Petrol prices

rrockettman

nej wrote:

None at all. Where do you think the supermarkets get their fuel from?

But their forecourts will be empty and road tankers idle.

Graham_Devon

student100 wrote:

It's nowhere near £180 if you drive a fuel-efficient, low polluting car.

I do drive a fuel efficient car, 48-55mpg is my average, so my spreadsheet tells me. That doesn't stop the fact that my car is older than March 2001, which is where the tiers start. So I have to pay more. Its a 1.9 TDI.

Graham_Devon

student100 wrote:

The only thing fuel protests achieve is p***ing everyone off.

You won't be inconveniencing the fuel companies or the government, only other drivers.

You will be inconviniencing the government. Think back to the protests. The government lost millions in revenue over those 3-4 days. The only problem was that they made a surge in profits when everyone was panic buying. They would have noticed the effect of 3 days of no fuel duty though.

I also don't think it made that much difference to everyones lives. We all basically just pretty much got a holiday if we couldnt get to work. I thought the spirits at that time were absolutely excellent.

lenny007

If you examine the cost of fuel and who actually makes the money out of it, very little goes to the retailer. The majority of the cost is fuel duty and then don't forget that there is VAT added onto this so in effect we are paying tax on the tax.

As soon as someone complains about it, they are force fed the usual guff about "saving the environment" and other such nonesuch. If the environment was such as large element in the pricing of fuels, how come after diesel cars became more popular did the price rise disproportionately compared to petrol to the extent that diesel is more expensive than petrol?

Simple, more popular so make the masses pay more for it.

And where does our "road fund" tax actually go? Well, straight into the central government pot to pay for things such as the !!!! up at the dome and protecting bees and such twaddle. Certainly not on the roads.

There is no way this or any other government can afford to reduce the duty on fuel as it is so heavily indebted to the tax it creams from the cost of fuel. I wouldn't be surprised to see the duty go up to cover the loss of tax generated from the sale of tobacco as that will surely be banned in the next decade and the shortfall will have to come from somewhere.

And in all of this, we must laugh. Public transport needs a massive input of finances if it is to be brought up to a level which is merely satisfactory. But this won't happen until the car has been taxed from the road. You've got to wonder about the ethics of a government who will give you plenty of stick but no carrot and also one which encourages us to actively use transport which will get no more than approximately 8-10mpg whilst pumping out carcinogens and the like completely unregulated.

Get out of your efficient and relatively environmentally friendly cars everyone and jump on to a bus made in the 60's which clogs up the air we breathe.

Oh, and don't dare to complain or protest against it, or they'll have you locked up under the prevention of terrorism act as well.

Graham_Devon

If the government were concenred about the environment, they would make Biodiesel easier to get hold of and tax it less. As it is, they don't and are not helping in the slightest to get biodiesel off the ground.

student100

lenny007 wrote:

which encourages us to actively use transport which will get no more than approximately 8-10mpg whilst pumping out carcinogens and the like completely unregulated.

Get out of your efficient and relatively environmentally friendly cars everyone and jump on to a bus made in the 60's which clogs up the air we breathe.

I'm sure trying to reply to an "argument" expressed in such a manner is futile, but I'll try anyway...

Bus - say 10mpg - say 30 passengers.

Car - say 40mpg - say 2 passengers.

You do the math.

Graham_Devon

student100 wrote:

I'm sure trying to reply to an "argument" expressed in such a manner is futile, but I'll try anyway...

Bus - say 10mpg - say 30 passengers.

Car - say 40mpg - say 2 passengers.

You do the math.

But you missed the whole point about how much they pollute, you just picked up on one bit about the MPG, which is irrelevant when you see how much more they pollute. You can see these just be observing a bus going up a hill!

I do have those buses round my area from the 1960's. Not buses which you see in cities.

chris73

The problem with public transport is that for long journeys the cost is excessive. Take a train journey with 2 adults and 2 children from London to Edinburgh, cost £282.30 with a super saver.

It really is possible to buy a 2nd hand bangor with MOT and Tax, insure it for the day and fill it with fuel and make the journey, and it will still work out cheaper than buying a train ticket - then simply sell the car through ebay the following day (you'd probably get back what you paid for it), in essence meaning that all the Journey actually cost you was fuel and a days insurance.

BTW - if you bought the bangor off Ebay most drivers would actually get 7 days free insurance too! - so save even more!.

NOW THAT IS REAL MONEY SAVING!

pinkfluffybabe

Even for reasonably short journeys the cost is excessive. Even within the realms of flexible working, it is impossible to avoid getting caught out by 'Peak rates'. Train costs between major cities in Scotland are appalling, especially considering the poor service and overcrowding.

taxiphil

lenny007 wrote:

If the environment was such as large element in the pricing of fuels, how come after diesel cars became more popular did the price rise disproportionately compared to petrol to the extent that diesel is more expensive than petrol?

Simple, more popular so make the masses pay more for it.

Exactly.

Another thing people forget so easily is that Unleaded Petrol was once classed as a "green" fuel. When it was introduced in the late 80's / early 90's it was much cheaper than 4 star because of its "green" credentials.

By the time everyone starts being good citizens and using the "green" fuel, the government starts the brainwashing process all over again by telling us it's actually not an enivronmentally friendly fuel and therefore we must be taxed heavily for using it.

Even if cars could run on water, the goverment would still find a way getting the same amount of money out of us.