I'm so old I remember when .... Cost ...?

PipneyJane

The fuel protests occurred in September 2000, when petrol hit 84p a litre.  I remember because my car was getting increasingly unreliable, so I needed to buy a new one. The protests prompted me to purchase the most fuel efficient vehicle available at the time:  a diesel VW Lupo. (Although I bought the cheaper version: a SEAT Arosa.  Same car; different badge, £2,000 saving when new).  Top fuel economy quoted was 84mpg. Best I managed was 74mpg, with an average of 68mpg.

newsgroupmonkey_ said:

leecall4a said:

Petrol cost £1 a litre

That was 2008. If you add inflation, that should now be £1.58.
It's actually not that much!
http://www.speedlimit.org.uk/petrolprices.html

What's scarier is what happened to fuel in the 10 years before. In 1998, it hit 50p a litre and in 10 years doubled in price.

If the 1998 prices had stuck with inflation, it would now be 95p.

You’re forgetting the other big drivers behind petrol price rises:  the GBP:USD exchange rate, and the fuel duty levied by the government.  Oil prices are quoted in USD.  In August 2000 £1 bought $1.50 USD.  Today it buys $1.27.  That’s a 15% price rise on oil, without factoring in inflation or other costs.  

Fuel duty and VAT have actually fallen as a proportion of the total cost.  In 1991 it was 68.5%; in 2000, it was 72.3%. Currently, fuel duty is 52.95p/litre on unleaded**.  When I last filled up with petrol, I paid 139.9p/L of which 23p was VAT; combined they form 55% of the cost per litre.  

- Pip

*My source for the earlier figures:  http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/world/2000/world_fuel_crisis/933648.stm#:~:text=VAT%20campaigning&text=Leaving%20aside%20VAT%2C%20fuel%20duty,the%20country%20can%20afford%20it. 

**Fuel duty in 2024:   https://obr.uk/forecasts-in-depth/tax-by-tax-spend-by-spend/fuel-duties/  

jackieblack

Farway said:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmEDEZPnEyA

Thank you for posting this. 
When I listened to it I realised that this is the tune my Dad (who has dementia and is now in a care home) often used to whistle.  

I played it to him when I visited this afternoon and he started singing along - he remembered all the words, then started telling me about some of the films he remembered watching.

weenancyinAmerica

They have been experimenting with music from the forties and fifties in nursing homes here, especially for dementia patients. I remember on my first trip to England back in 1980 one of my fellow travelers on the tour was writing her doctoral thesis on it. 

Farway

jackieblack said:

Farway said:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmEDEZPnEyA

Thank you for posting this. 
When I listened to it I realised that this is the tune my Dad (who has dementia and is now in a care home) often used to whistle.  

I played it to him when I visited this afternoon and he started singing along - he remembered all the words, then started telling me about some of the films he remembered watching.

That's wonderful, I'm so glad to have provided a trigger for his memory

Try him on Roy Rogers, he must, like me, have watched him on Saturday mornings.

They are on YouTube

daz378

I remember  summer  of 76 ...was 10 ..was 2p for a bus trip

London_1

leecall4a said:

Petrol cost £1 a litre

I remember when it was 4s 3d a gallon and when it crept up to five shilling my brothers were both complaining

JackieO xx

sheramber

I remember there was a furore when petrol was increased to 5/3d a gallon in the budget.

Increase from midnight so petrol stations were rather busy.

CapricornLass

I'm sure Mars Bars used to be 6d.  And Black Jacks and Fruit Salads were 4 for 1d, while a lucky dip bag was 3d

Torry_Quine

I remember always having 2p to make an emergency phone call home 

Nelliegrace

• Average weekly wage for men: £12 
• Common wage for men: £7 10s, which is the wage for the largest group of workers 
• Male agricultural workers: £8 2s 10d, but more than half of workers earned less than this.

There was no family allowance for a first child, 8 shillings a week for the second and further children. We had a third of a pint of free school milk, and school dinners were a shilling, so £1 a week for the four of us.  I have found some 1957 prices. The wartime subsidies on essential foods were ending in the mid 1950s, so prices were increasing considerably. (Hansard.)

The Suez Crisis had led to the reintroduction of petrol rationing.
WW2 rationing of coal ended in July 1958, after 16 years. No wonder we were so cold, with ice on the inside of the windows.

No idea what the asterisks were for.