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We have yet to see another wave of lorry blockades - thank goodness - in protest at fuel price rises.

The haulage industry has been responsible and restrained - yet there is no doubt it is suffering. But what can be done?

Midlands-based TM Logistics wants a special deal for the sector and a halt to fuel duty increases.

Stephen Taylor, the firm's managing director who is also chairman of the Transport Association, which represents 60 leading independent operators, says its members face probably their single gravest crisis. Diesel prices have soared above £1 a litre.

Does the sector simply try and absorb the increases and erode margins even further or introduce a fuel surcharge for customers. The dilemma is that this would raise client costs and make them less competitive.

And, no doubt, more willing to look around in a bid to get a better deal.

Nevertheless, many of the airlines have introduced fuel surcharges and the public has acquiesced.

So why not, you might ask.

However this is not the industry's preferred solution.

And it says the Government should take a leaf out of other EU countries - the differential between the º£½ÇÊÓƵ and France is said to be 20 per cent and growing.

"We want the Government to immediately rescind the 2p fuel duty rise recently introduced, given most of this revenue has now been claimed in increased VAT on the higher fuel price," said Mr Taylor. "We're also calling for the postponement of the next 2p fuel duty rise in April."

To prevent a repeat situation, the TA is urging the Government to develop a scheme it says is already in place else-where in Europe, where vehicle excise duty on trucks is treated completely separately from car tax.

"What we need is a sector specific rebate scheme for trucks, which would recognise the importance of the road haulage industry as an essential component of a successful and growing º£½ÇÊÓƵ economy," noted Mr Taylor.

I have much sympathy for him on the fuel duty rises.

The Government has made gestures before in a bid to give the sector a bit of a boost, and it could do so again.

But giving one deal for lorries and another for cars could be difficult.

Car owners would no doubt moan that they were once again being singled out for punishment, such a scheme might prove administratively burdensome to run, and, then, where do you draw the line?

What about taxis and courier companies, for example?

How about buses and long distance coach firms?

And would it all be worth the effort given that like interest rates oil prices go up and down.

I asked Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee member David Blanchflower - up on a visit to the Midlands last week - whether he thought we were going to have to live with $100 a barrel oil.

He was very reluctant to bite on that one, and the Bank clearly still has hopes that prices will come down to more reasonable proportions.

So the haulage industry may be whistling in the wind.

No harm though in looking into their ideas.