MSE News: Service stations could have to show rivals' petrol prices

taxiphil

Ultrasonic wrote: »

This is pathetic. Nobody in 10 Downing Street should be wasting time on nonsense like this. There are far more important issues they should be working on.

The price of fuel in motorway service areas could be double what it is elsewhere for all I care, it still wouldn't warrant government legislation wasted on it as far as I'm concerned.

The government already employs thousands of pen pushers across its various departments, whose job it is to constantly meddle with secondary legislation.

99% of the time, this involves dreaming up new ideas to tax and criminalise us all.

If they occasionally turn their hand to improving consumer rights and doing something that might actually reduce the cost of everyday life, then at least they're acting as our servants rather than our masters.

withabix

The whole petrol/diesel pricing system is a cartel and will be found to be by the EU after they raided Shell and BP yesterday.

withabix

MX5huggy wrote: »

What % of sales in Motorway service stations would be to people buying their own fuel and not company car drivers using fuel cards etc, who don't care.

Company car drivers get shot at dawn for filling up at motorway service stations!

redux

I wonder if Cameron would dare suggest extending this genius idea to other locations and products.

A few rhetorical examples might help show him just how loopy it is.

mad_rich

Jimmyc wrote: »

Service stations are a complete rip off the take advantage of people desperate for fuel..

They must also provide hot food, fuel and free toilet facilities, as well as free parking, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

That in itself is rather an overhead.

Not saying they're not expensive, but you can't expect them to be the same price as Asda.

Obviously_the_best

Motorway fuel price signs are a good idea, but petrol stations having to show each others prices is a ludicrous idea. A small local petrol station trying to make a living somewhere near an ASDA would be absolutely done for.

John_Pierpoint

http://www.petrolprices.com/

Ultrasonic

taxiphil wrote: »

The government already employs thousands of pen pushers across its various departments, whose job it is to constantly meddle with secondary legislation.

99% of the time, this involves dreaming up new ideas to tax and criminalise us all.

If they occasionally turn their hand to improving consumer rights and doing something that might actually reduce the cost of everyday life, then at least they're acting as our servants rather than our masters.

Changes of legislation are not trivial and will ultimately require parilamentary time. It's not just a little bit of some office junior's time that would be wasted on this.

I wonder what proportion of UK motorists buy fuel from motorway service stations? I would hazard a guess that it is less than 50%. In which case the likely outcome of the proposed changes would be to make most people worse off, not better off. Why? Because if fuel companies are essentially forced into reducing their prices in services then they will try to regain lost revenue in other ways, most likely by increasing fuel prices elsewhere.