Midlands today fuel price news.

[gary]

As I see it, under the current cozy arrangement there is no good reason for the Government to persuade/force the petro-chemical industry to refrain from over charging.

Forget for a moment the VAT take going up on the over priced fuel, what about the knock on extra VAT charged on all the goods being transported by road?

What about the tax take on the inflated profits of the petro-chemical industry?

So no we won't get a murmur from Government who are the only people with enough clout to make a difference, so yes it is the Government that needs to be harangued by us mere mortals

 

[Steve L]

Your right there Gary.

BUT (and it's a big BUT), we as a nation of car and truck lovers all need to stand together and that is why we are "british" as Omid Djalili puts it in his TV ad for comparison web sites!

The people haven't stood together since Arthur Scargill & Red Robbo left the sceene. Trade unions while they do serve a purpose have lost direction and the desire to serve their electorate.

You wouldn't need to bring the country to it's knees or cause a three day week. Just all stand together by stopping your vehicles for 30 mins where they stand and then let the media do the rest. Dumb and Dumbber wouldn't need a repeat to get the message.

Steve L.

 

[Stephen_374341239]

I bet its

 

[Chris_374413356]

If diesel takes a lot less refining than petrol, why do we pay the same as petrol or more.

It seems to me that the British would stand for the '3 card trick', still, roll on voting day.

 

[Steve L]

I wouldn't bother, they're all the same.

Our local MP had the cheek to call Cadbury workers wingers then try to worm his way back in by saying it was the unite union he ment.

By the way he's had to pay back 11K of mortgage payments on his stately home. Not bad for a millionaire I suppose.

He is con servatively at Leo.

 

[Sedo]

I could bear the price more if they scrapped the road fund licence and funded off the fuel prices, has been said many times before.

From what I gather, very little is actually fed back into the road infrastucture anyway.

That way the more you drive the more you pay, therefore someone who has a large car for whatever reason but doesn't do much mileage is not paying on the double whammy system we have now.

Tom

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hello Tom,

I have to agree with your stance on abolishing VED and loading fuel.

But it is misguided to think of tax collected from drives as being earmarked for roads and transport. No, in the UK all revenues from all taxes fill up the chancellor of the Exchequers piggy bank. The total sum is then divided up between all Gov depts according to the success of their bids for funding.

 

[Guest]

Re Gary'r post.

Inflation is the biggest reason that fuel prices should be kept stable in the UK.

The last thing the UK people or economy needs is a constant inflation push from fuel prices and fuel taxes!

 

[Lutz]

Oil is a global commodity so the price at the refinery is dictated not by us in Europe, but by the biggest users, like the USA and China. If they are prepared to pay more then our opportunity to influence the price is rather limited. The picture would be rather different if the price were to be brought to a more or less common level internationally. But that won't change as long as there is no incentive for the biggest users to stop squandering non-renewable energy resources.

 

[Steve L]

I wholeheartedly agree with Tom & John on this point.

Vehicle tax should be abolished and for the average car doing 30K per annum the increase on fuel was about 1p per 10 gallons to get the revenue back. But the benefit of using fuel as the vehicle for road tax would be that all those lordy lordies, farmers oh and of coarse the travellers would have to contribute their share on a pay as you drive basis.

I also reckon that 35second heating oil or red diesel to you and I should be scrapped. Houses could easily use 28 second oil for heating and the farmers could claim a rebate based on the mileometer or engine hours meter of their equipment.That would stop all the illegal use of red diesel in one fowl swoop.

It is also possible with the inceased revenue from the non tax payers, that the fuel price could in fact be lowered. Well in theory anyway, until parliament get's it's hands on the idae.

Steve l.

 

[DianneT]

If you look at the prices for fuel in Europe we are about the highest for Petrol and highest for Diesel. There are only a handful of countries where Diesel is higher than Petrol. UK and France being amoungst them. 2 websites to see this is drive-alive.co.uk/fuel_price_europe.html or aaireland.ie/petrolprices

Regards car tax I think we should go for the Austrian System pay 76.20 euros per year for their road Vignette and all visitors to the country pay for a 10 day 7. 90 or 22.90 for a 2 month vignette. Covers all vehicles up to 3.5t. Money goes to keeping the roads etc up to scratch.and every one who uses the roads pays for the up keep.

If you go to the fuel prices in Europe Austria is very low in the table.

 

[Lutz]

When comparing the cost of fuel in the UK with that of other countries, to be fair one should look at other hidden taxes which affect the overall cost of motoring, too.

For example, Dianne has mentioned the lower cost of fuel in Austria and their 76.20 Euro vignette, but private cars in Austria are also subject to a so-called insurance tax, calcuated on the following basis:

(Engine power output in kW - 24) x 0.55 = monthly tax in Euros.

For a 100kW (134 HP) car this works out at just over 500 Euros per year.

 

[Guest]

I think most people work out the cost of getting a car on the road and then the fuel running costs come as a secondary ammount.

What you pay out of your wallet day to day is the factor that hits home. No one in the UK gives a fig about what Mr Austria pays.

Austria has more diesel cars compared to petrol than virtually any other country in Europe with diesel abround 20 pence a litre less than the UK.

With around twice the number of cars on the road in the UK than Austrian population and regional differences in where people live and work and the drive to work commute British motorists are well ripped off.

 

[Lutz]

No one in the UK gives a fig about what Mr Austria pays.

Really? Obviously, Dianne, finds it noteworthy enough to make a comment about it. If the UK didn't have the second highest price for diesel fuel in Europe after Norway and well over average for petrol (10th place out of 29 countries) you may be right, but I suspect quite a lot of people are interested in what their neighbours are paying.

 

[NickinFrance]

Dianne, Diesel is cheaper than Petrol in France (Diesel 1.02 _, Regular petrol 1.28_ at my local supermarket)

About a year ago the price slowly crept up to about the mid 1.30's for diesel because of the price of crude but didn't drop when the crude price fell.

There was a bit of moaning & Sarky threatened to impose a 'special' tax on the oil companies, the price dropped 25c a lt overnight.

 

[Guest]

Lutz, people are interested in what fuel cost when touring on holiday!

For day to day mtoring costs, the cost of sausages and bacon, how much it costs to go to the cinema or what taxes are paid in Austria or anywhere else is of no real interest until they have to pay them on a regular basis as a resident!

Do you honestly believe anyone in the UK cares about what we in France pay in autoroute toll charges?

Going from the UK to France for two weeks holiday and what they pay then is what they care about, back home in Blighty no one really gives a fig!

One concern is that some imported ideas on motorists taxes then adds more to the financial burden of UK motoring

 

[Lutz]

Some people do have wider horizons that don't stop at their doorstep and are interested in everything that goes on around them. As an EU citizen I think it is only natural to concern myself with my fellow citizens.

 

[Steve L]

Many years ago when the EU was being concieved, it was loosely called "the common market". The basic idea was that we would have open boarders and a single currencey. Furthermore, as I understood it, we were supposed to of been on an equal footing on essential comodities.

Surely petrol/diesel is an essential commodity, after all the majority of goods delivered throughout EU are delivered by road.

 

[Chrisbee]

If the tax or vat on fuel was cut you can bet that the goverment would claw the money back by raising taxes elsewhere, they need their income. I doubt if the average working man would be any better off. People talk of what they used to pay for fuel years ago but in real terms i.e. the time you had to work to earn the cost of a gallon of petrol, I think you'll find the price is about the same or even lower.

 

[Lutz]

Many years ago when the EU was being concieved, it was loosely called "the common market". The basic idea was that we would have open boarders and a single currencey. Furthermore, as I understood it, we were supposed to of been on an equal footing on essential comodities.

Surely petrol/diesel is an essential commodity, after all the majority of goods delivered throughout EU are delivered by road.

Correct, Steve, but I think you'll find that prices of goods and commodities vary even within one country. I drove to Berlin last week and petrol was up to 8 cent a litre dearer there than where I live.

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hi Chrisbee,

I think you may be right about the real cost per litre. But that is only part of the story.

When I was younger most people worked within a mile or two of where they lived, so the use of personal transport was far less then than now. Either walking or public transport to and from work was much more common, so the percentage of a weeks wage spent on fuel was probably far lower than now.

Thanks to the 'Get on yer bike' mentality, many more people live much further away from their work, and as the Public transport network just could not provide reasonable journeys to and from work for many more people. As a result Public transport lost custom and has been in decline ever since (not helped by deregulation where commercial interests now take precedence over offering a proper service), and this has meant that personal cars have had to take the strain.

 

[Guest]

JohnL.

Exactly what I was referring to above. The numer of cars on UK roads and the way they are used for commuting is different to a lot of countries. Trying to compare Austrian or Swedish motoring to UK motoring is a non starter.

What it hits your pocket where you live is what counts!

According to Steve in Leo

"Many years ago when the EU was being concieved, it was loosely called "the common market". The basic idea was that we would have open borders and a single currency"

Now I always understood that the EEC originate from the coal and steel industry setting up trading agreement to regulate production and prices etc in the 50's.

The "Common Market" came about to ease trading and open borders.

The EU making laws that control member states, single currency and a parliament were later add ons I believe.

Showing an and interest in what goes on in India, Brazil or another EU country is a natural thing for many of us Lutz.

Crap such as "EU Citizen" and what really concerns people is a very different matter.

People born to immigrant families have a problem describing themselves as British, French or Dutch. Walk down any UK street and ask where people citizenship lies and now and for the forseeable future you will be VERY lucky to hear EU as a response

 

[Lutz]

Why crap, Euro? I have difficulty in seeing myself as anything other than an EU citizen. I wouldn't know what else I could be. I never had a choice in which country I was born. I was pure coincidence. Had I been born two years later, it would have been somewhere else.

 

[seth1]

That would be wishful thinking, thus then forcing the UK back into manufacturing.A stop to pumping money into Europe.Unemployment reduced.Taxs reduced.One problem:a leader with a German mentality is required to run the country.

 

[Poppasmurf]

Esso petrol in Tesco, Kidderminster 113.9p per litre.

Esso petrol in Tesco, Warminster, Wilts, 109.9p per litre.

Why!