Has anyone noticed petrol prices creeping up again?

Really2

lostinrates wrote: »

I'd agree people don't get places under their own steam enough, but I'd deny that life as we expect it and are expected to live it would be possible in many areas with out access to cars.

Unless we can make a day last 48 hours:)

lostinrates

Really2 wrote: »

Unless we can make a day last 48 hours:)

Increased access to work from home would help. I wish DH's employers would be more flexible with that.

Even so, he often has to, for example, grab a plane at a moments notice. He'd still need a car from where we are and on that sort of timescale, to get to an airport.

I'm thinking about getting a bike, because I'm getting stronger and I think I could probably do some less heavy shopping and getting about on a bike. I'm just not sure I could cope with the hills . Its also quite a big extra chunk of time.

Really2

lostinrates wrote: »

I'm thinking about getting a bike, because I'm getting stronger and I think I could probably do some less heavy shopping and getting about on a bike. I'm just not sure I could cope with the hills . Its also quite a big extra chunk of time.

You can get electric motor assisted ones now so the hills are less grief.

Not sure how good they are.

lostinrates

Really2 wrote: »

You can get electric motor assisted ones now so the hills are less grief.

Not sure how good they are.

Yes, but they are expensive, aren't they? I'm not going to become a cycle enthusiast so could get away with a cheap second hand bike if I can deal with the physical side. If not, I wonder if I'm not just better accepting shank's pony is most reliable alternative for me...and the car

milliemonster

I'm home based but for aroun 60% of the time have to travel to different sites in my region, covering around 250 miles a day, no way could I use public transport to get to these areas at the times I have to be there.

Hubby works 30 miles away so a bike is not an option for him either (esp when he has to be there for 7am)

So we are a 2 car family, the nearest shop to us is 7 miles away, nearest bus stop is 3 miles away, train station 7 miles away, doctors 3 miles away, living where we live and with the work we do we both need a car and there is no viable alternative for us.

Recently I booked a return train ticket for work purposes to London (I live in Yorkshire) bearing in mind if I drove it would cost me about £40 in fuel, the train ticket was £218!!!!!!, fortunately I can claim that back in work expenses but how on earth are we ever going to encourage people to use public transport at those sorts of costs?

Rochdale_Pioneers

Graham_Devon wrote: »

Hope we will blame the government?

Sorry Rochdale, but 71% of the litre is now pure tax. Of course we will blame the government.

The rate of duty stayed the same from the price being below 90p all the way up towards £1.20 then all the way back down below 90p. Its now gone up tuppence as pump prices have gone up by more than double that. Yes, we pay a lot of tax in the UK thanks to the fuel tax escalator policy run by both governments. But the price increases of last year had nothing whatsoever to do with that - if anything the rate of duty cushioned us from the worst of the crude price increases (the UK dropping sharply down the most expensive rankings according to the AA as the pump prices went up).

As you mentioned tax and it being the government's fault, would you care to remind us what the Tory policy is on fuel duty? Last we heard they pledged to be putting it up as the price of crude fell from its peak......

Thrugelmir

From Money Morning today. As has been suggested earlier buy a bike ! Perhaps invest the the savings into oil shares such as BP. As a barrel of crude oil may well rise another 20% by the end of the year.

Oil has staged an impressive rally since dropping below $35 a barrel in mid-February, soaring 42% in little more than a month to about $50 a barrel.
And while there remains a risk that prices will retreat further due to sluggish demand, there are also three very compelling reasons why oil is still a safe long-term bet:

• OPEC has made substantial progress in reducing the amount of oil on the market.
• The dollar has been made vulnerable by the U.S. Federal Reserve’s aggressive policy of quantitative easing.
• And low oil prices and tight credit have reduced global energy investment, putting future supply at risk.

There’s no question that downside risk remains. On April 13, the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA) lowered its demand forecast by 1 million barrels a day, and now expects the world will use about 83.4 million barrels per day in 2009. That would be 2.4 million barrels a day, or 2.8% less than last year.
But so far dwindling demand has failed to contain oil prices.
The futures contract for benchmark crude settled at $49.66 a barrel on March 31, up 11.3% from where it ended 2008. As Money Morning predicted in its annual outlook series, the first quarter was a volatile one, in which oil prices tested the low $30s before surging over $50 in recent market rally.
And analysts are almost completely united in the view that, despite its short-term volatility, declines in production, exploration and development, and the value of the dollar will drive oil prices substantially higher in the years ahead.
OPEC Keeps a Lid on Production

The members of OPEC generated tremendous revenue from oil prices that soared over $147 a barrel last year. However, just as the world’s top oil producers began looking for ways to spend their massive stockpiles of cash, prices began a plunge that would see crude lose more than three-quarters of its value.
In a desperate effort to put a floor under oil prices, OPEC - supplier of 40% of the world’s oil - has issued three production cuts totaling 4.2 million barrels per day (bpd), or nearly 12% of its capacity, since September.
While the cuts have not yet been able to return oil prices to the group’s desired price range of $60-$70 a barrel, the cartel abstained from making any further reductions at its latest meeting in March and even voiced optimism that crude would reach $60 a barrel by the end of the year.

Graham_Devon

Rochdale_Pioneers wrote: »

The rate of duty stayed the same from the price being below 90p all the way up towards £1.20 then all the way back down below 90p. Its now gone up tuppence as pump prices have gone up by more than double that. Yes, we pay a lot of tax in the UK thanks to the fuel tax escalator policy run by both governments. But the price increases of last year had nothing whatsoever to do with that - if anything the rate of duty cushioned us from the worst of the crude price increases (the UK dropping sharply down the most expensive rankings according to the AA as the pump prices went up).

As you mentioned tax and it being the government's fault, would you care to remind us what the Tory policy is on fuel duty? Last we heard they pledged to be putting it up as the price of crude fell from its peak......

The rate of duty stayed the same, yes. But I said Tax.

VAT did not remain static when the price rose. Plus, it's always humbling to know that we are paying VAT on tax.

I don't know how they get away with that one to be honest, as VAT is "Value added". What "value" are we getting for our 56p fuel duty. None. We don't actually get anything for each 56p per litre we spend. So how can they charge the "Value Added" tax on something where we get no value or goods.

As for the tory bit, doesnt matter, I stated "government" not labour.

Thrugelmir

Graham_Devon wrote: »

The rate of duty stayed the same, yes. But I said Tax.

VAT did not remain static when the price rose. Plus, it's always humbling to know that we are paying VAT on tax.

I don't know how they get away with that one to be honest, as VAT is "Value added". What "value" are we getting for our 56p fuel duty. None. We don't actually get anything for each 56p per litre we spend. So how can they charge the "Value Added" tax on something where we get no value or goods.

As for the tory bit, doesnt matter, I stated "government" not labour.

When the VAT rate is increased back to 17.5% (or even higher) , this is immediately going to add another 2p onto the price of a litre of petrol.

GB appears to be a one card trick magician who doesn't realise that people see through his sleight of hand. As fuel duty was raised at the time of the VAT cut so not to reduce Government tax revenues.

Graham_Devon

Thrugelmir wrote: »

When the VAT rate is increased back to 17.5% (or even higher) , this is immediately going to add another 2p onto the price of a litre of petrol.

GB appears to be a one card trick magician who doesn't realise that people see through his sleight of hand. As fuel duty was raised at the time of the VAT cut so not to reduce Government tax revenues.

Remains to be seen I guess.

Hopefully the press will make a big thing of it and get the duty removed.