KEY POINTS:
Angry truckies are planning to choke Auckland and other city centres with their trucks tomorrow morning in protest against a sudden increase in road-user charges on diesel vehicles.
The Auckland City Council says it is powerless to stop freight carriers acting on their threat to send a thousand trucks up and down Queen St.
Police have urged commuters to leave as many cars at home as possible - or even consider taking the day off.
Auckland City Mayor John Banks said last night that, despite the inconvenience, he would welcome the sight of heavy rigs jamming Queen St "in the spirit of free enterprise and democratic protest".
The former National Party police minister invited Aucklanders to consider delaying their everyday business for several hours as the truckies fill the city centre in protest against "a Government with a death-wish".
"I love big trucks so I'll take 10 minutes to give them some moral support and to see their big trucks rumble up Queen St," he said.
Protest spokesman Chris Carr, of the Auckland Road Transport Association, said truck drivers were being asked to join motorway motorcades leading to the city at 7.30am and go to Queen St from the Symonds St, Nelson St or Fanshawe St off-ramps.
Trucks from the Southern Motorway would drive down Queen St, to meet those from the Northwestern and Northern Motorways, which would travel up the street from Victoria St.
Mr Carr said his organisation and the National Road Carriers Association - both Road Transport Forum affiliates - were in contact with police and emergency services as they did not want to inconvenience the public.
"We are doing it on behalf of the people of New Zealand because we have had enough."
The Road Transport Forum is promising protests in other centres including Tauranga, Hamilton, Rotorua and Wellington.
Chief executive Tony Friedlander - another former National minister - said carriers were outraged at the sudden imposition of the road-user charges increase after what he believed amounted to a promise by Transport Minister Annette King to give a month's notice.
"We are also protesting at the timing of the increase," he said.
"It could not be worse for our industry, which is facing record fuel prices and other cost increases, or for the country as a whole as the economy heads into a recession.
"I have never known members to be so angry over any issue."
Ms King last night condemned the forum's actions as outrageous and said she had promised only to amend legislation to address "notice issues".
The amending legislation was still being drafted and, without knowing if she would have parliamentary support for it, she had imposed the increase in charges without notice to prevent a recurrence of what happened last year, when firms bought $17.5 million of road-user licences at old prices.
She accused forum members of trying to avoid paying "a fair share" of the cost of building and maintaining the roading system.
"If trucking companies disrupt the travel plans of motorists and other commuters on Friday morning, as they threaten, the only people who suffer will be all those New Zealanders who pay their fair share of roading costs through petrol excise duty."
Mr Friedlander said his members were frustrated at delays in reviewing an outdated funding method.
Mr Carr said carriers operated on margins of only 3 per cent, yet the minister was suggesting they could cope with a cost increase amounting to a third of that. "She fails to understand the fragility of our industry."
OVERCHARGED
* Truck drivers are being asked to join motorcades into the city at 7.30am tomorrow.
* They are protesting against rises in road-user charges which they say will average about 7.5 per cent but will rise as high as 15 per cent for courier firms.
* The Road Transport Forum says the timing could not be worse for our industry, which is facing record fuel prices and other cost increases.
