Petrol prices

chris73

There must be something that can be done!!!

Somebody tried to.....twice, the first time it barely made a point, the second time it was a flop, an embarrassment in fact

Were you there supporting them?, if not why not??.

FACT:- Fuel prices go up constantly and at an alarming rate and nobody gives a toss. However cancel Coronation Street and replace it with Football or Wimbledon and it seems the whole country grinds their axe in protest.

'nuff said!!!!

stumpjumper

Unlike income tax, petrol tax hits poorer people harder than the wealthy. This is because they still have to get around due to poor public transport, they can't afford the latest fuel efficient cars and houses near to high employment areas are much more expensive leading to peole having to move further afield and commute.

I spend more on petrol each month than I do on my mortgage and it's getting to the point where it's becoming uneconomical to go to work and I'd be better off on benefits! Jobs locally are hard to come by, I just hope something comes along soon.

Graham_Devon

Dchurch, you may find this hard to believe but I agree with you!

I don't so much mind the tax on petrol, the tax has to be paid somehow, if it was banished from petrol, it would be put on something else, a 'pay as you drive' scheme, maybe tyres would cost £1000 per tyre etc. We will always get hit hard on anything we need or like. Everyone has to pay council tax for instance, another way to do it would be to pay for the services you use, i.e pay for bin collection, but that will never happen.

I digress. The part I have a problem with is that every time it goes up, the government get a bigger slice. So instead of taking say 55p per litre, they are suddenly taking 60 per litre, when it hits 1.10 they will be taking 68p per litre and so on.

And then on top of that, we pay road tax! If you consider that every car on the road costs roughly 180 quid per year, and last time I heard, there were 40 million cars on the UK roads...well thats 7,200,000,000. I make that 7 billion pounds? Per year?! JUST in road tax!? Now I know roads cost a lot to maintain, but bet I could make some savings from that and increase the state of the roads given the budget. Remember, were talking cars here, were not talking lorries, buses etc.

Add to that toll charges if you want to use a road thats less congested, or the London zone charges, £8 per day, increased or increasing to £25 per day based on the cars emission levels.

Let's not forget the amount of money they make on every single persons insurance policy etc.

Also, while were onto it, lets not forget company car tax. You pay tax for the privalige of your company 'lending' you a car!? And they are bringing in van tax too soon....people need vans to work, so lets tax them!

dchurch24

chris73 wrote:

Somebody tried to.....twice, the second time it was a flop, an embarrasssment in fact

Were you there supporting them?, if not why not??

Personally, I did.

I took a fortnight off work, as my employer at the time said that if people couldn't get into work they wouldn't be paid.

I wanted to support the cause and didn't go to work, which is my main reason for buying petrol.

The point is though, that people NEED petrol. And the Govt. know it.

It's a very tricky thing to support.

There needs to be something cleverer than just blockades. Maybe a blockade at Dover (like the French do in Calais) which could bring the country to a standstill in probably less then 24hours.

chris73

Add to that toll charges if you want to use a road thats less congested, or the London zone charges, £8 per day, increased or increasing to £25 per day based on the cars emission levels.

Well they have to pay for the Olympics and maintain Diana's fountain with something!.

Graham_Devon

chris73 wrote:

Somebody tried to.....twice, the first time it barely made a point, the second time it was a flop, an embarrassment in fact

Were you there supporting them?, if not why not??.

FACT:- Fuel prices go up constantly and at an alarming rate and nobody gives a toss. However cancel Coronation Street and replace it with Football or Wimbledon and it seems the whole country grinds their axe in protest.

'nuff said!!!!

Read above. You'll probably be slung in the clangers for protesting now. It was made illegal to do so after a few people bought the country to a standstill last time. And good on them, I'm all for a standstill again! Sadly, it won't happen as the police have powers to move you and charge you, so by protesting, your only giving the government more money in polic fines for protesting!

dchurch24

Let's not forget the amount of money they make on every single persons insurance policy etc.

Indeed. The IPT (insurance premium tax) was originally introduced to fund 'victims of crime' compensation.

YEt, recently there was talk of adding a fiver to speeding fines for the same thing. Yet, this money (or tax) was not ever used to fund the very reason they brought it in.

Personally I think IPT is imorral - you only insure yourself against things that we're already paying (via tax) to be protected from - namely burglary, theft, bodily harm.

So because of failures or services that we're paying for (regardless of wether you think the services are good or bad, and I know we can't realisticaly be protected from everything) we now have to buy third-party pro-active insurance against, and yet again the Govt. take a slice.

Seems wrong to me.

(and Graham, I never take anything personally - I and there is always something to agree with someone else on, and always something to disagree on - such is lifes rich tapestry! ;-) )

Graham_Devon

stumpjumper wrote:

Unlike income tax, petrol tax hits poorer people harder than the wealthy. This is because they still have to get around due to poor public transport, they can't afford the latest fuel efficient cars and houses near to high employment areas are much more expensive leading to peole having to move further afield and commute.

I spend more on petrol each month than I do on my mortgage and it's getting to the point where it's becoming uneconomical to go to work and I'd be better off on benefits! Jobs locally are hard to come by, I just hope something comes along soon.

This is so so true.

I live in Devon, as you have possiby figured! Not london where there are buses. I simply could not get to work if I did not have a car. My other choices would be to work in a restaurant and get laid off in the winter, or work in a shop on the tills.

Without a car, I have no career prosepcts at all, yet I can't move to the city as I'm outpriced.

As it is, my pay from my employer is reasonable (I work 3 days per week and then self employed 3 days per week). My pay from my employer is just under 1k per month. The tax man takes 200 quid straight away. So I get 800 quid roughly.

I spend, roughly £150 in diesel, in a car that does 48mpg JUST to get to work. I then have to pay for a season ticket of £250 per 6 months to be able to park in the car park as the town have decided to make everything 2 hours, there is no where you can park for longer than 2 hours, even the main car park unless you get a season ticket from the council.

So thats £41 just to park to get to work per month. Plus the £150 in petrol (3 tanks full) per month. So thats £191 per month JUST to be able to work to get paid. So infact, I take £610. Then I pay my council tax... (Dchurch, you can see now I'm not privaliged, though do make that up with my self employment, but often have to work seven days a week to get by, as I aslo work in the evenings).

Blah Blah.

The only bit of happiness I get is that I work for the NHS, so in effect, I'm paying for myself!

It may not sound much to the government, but a return to 80p prices would save me over £27 per month (just to get to my employer). As it is, every single month it get's more and more. My wages rise about 2% a year. Fuel has risen over 30% in the last 2 years...

chris73

There are other ways of protesting, than causing a disruption or breaking the law.

But that takes effort, and a little inconvenience on our part and that selfishness is where any solidarity in this country falls flat

dchurch24

Graham_Devon wrote:

Read above. You'll probably be slung in the clangers for protesting now. It was made illegal to do so after a few people bought the country to a standstill last time. And good on them, I'm all for a standstill again! Sadly, it won't happen as the police have powers to move you and charge you, so by protesting, your only giving the government more money in polic fines for protesting!

..hmmm.. I know youare right, but what if just two cars happened to break down (maybe run out of petrol) next to each other in the two lanes that lead to Dover docks.
Surely you cannot be 'nicked' for running out of petrol in a precarious place?

...sadly, I think you probably can.