Time for a petrol boycott?

Sassamac

this boycotting idea has been going around for years and not worked yet. I doubt its going to now.

I mostly use Tescos for petrol, not for the prices, or for avoiding the big petrol chains, but because they do pay at pump and when you've got kids asleep in the car thats worth its weight in gold.

Ive been singed up to 'petrolprices' for a while now but all the petrol stations in town fix at the same price. There may be a day or two between them all changing their price up or down (gone down 2p a litre here this last week or so) when you can take advantage, but its doesnt make a significant difference to my budget at the end of the month.

Tescos are doing their 5p a litre off if you spend £50 again, so the easiest way for me to save money on petrol is to change my shopping habits, i.e. do a fortnightly shop instead of a weekly one, so as soon as my March grocery budget kicks in, thats what I'll do.

Also since new year I have made a real effort to drive more economically and I am getting more miles to my tank. And by cutting out unnecessary journeys and walking as much as possible, I am not having to fill up as often.

rayday2

MoneyGypsy wrote: »

Hi,

it won't be a popular view but I think high tax on petrol is fine - the problem is when the price is incresed by stealth it doesn't really encourage us to cut down. Better public transport and other incentives not to use our cars would be good.

Lol.

If I want to use public transport to get to my local town (we are a small village with one shop) it is £1.50 one way, they won't do a return. When I moved here four years ago it was 85p.

Consequently I don't use our local town which is probably not helpful to the local economy. The government are local governments are so shortsighted they could do something simple like buses and public transport run on red diesel to keep prices low but no they insist on taxing public transport off the road too.

This is not a matter I take quietly at all there is nothing better than bashing the local labour mp when he comes to our school governor meetings!

System

One thing for sure is, the cost of filling a car up has gone up outrageously over the last 4 years or so. With everything else that is on the agenda at the moment, credit crunch, personal debt levels, anticipated increase in house repoesessions, the emergence of countries and tomorrow's potential superpowers China and India and their demand for oil one thing for sure is unless we change our driving habits we won't be to afford to fill our cars up as we are used used to because we wont have the means to pay for it. I think the 2p rise in April may be the straw that breaks the camel's back. Oil barrel prices have actullay dropped over the last month but the forecourt prices havent. We could be in line for another Boston Tea Party. I remember the uproar when fuel went over the 90p per litre boundary and yet we have traversed the £1 a litre and nobody has really batted an eyelid. Personally I use Morrisons cause every now and again I get a £5 voucher to spend on groceris plus it is the cheapest around and there are no other supermarket petrol outlets nearby. I have diesel cars and I still believe diesel is the way ahead. It does make you wonder about the motives of the current crisis in the Middle East tho doesnt it; but that's another debate.

gilligansyle

MonkeySaving? wrote: »

Exactly, vote counts, but with which party? My tips if you're spending too much on fuel....

2) Parents with kids, if you live less than 2 miles away from the school, get off your fat !!! and start walking, you can walk 2 miles, so can your children (mine do). Do your shopping on the homeward bound route instead of a single weeks shop on a Saturday.
3) If you think you have to go somewhere, think, and then think again "is it REALLY necessary"
4) Buy a Prious
5) Cycle or walk to work, it's not rocket science, you get your butt off the chair, put some shoes on and walk out of the door...is it really that difficult?

All good ideas but not always practical. When my son was at school his journey was only half a mile, so yes he could walk it, but I would have driven past him on my way to work. I used to pull up nearby and literally push him out of the car, so not to stop traffic!. If public transport was better, I would use that but unfortunaltely my 12 mile journey to work, which takes half an hour would take nearly 2 hours on public transport and cost £5 a day. Thought about cycling, but work in town centre, on the 8th floor, and would have to leave bike in public car park. Chances of it being there when I finished? Somewhere between slim and none!

Petrol is one of the things I've tried to cut down on, but it just keeps going up!

melbury

But we will keep on paying whatever the price because we are British and that means totally lethargic and can't really be ar**ed to do anything about it - we may moan but we always just cave in (unlike the French). This greedy Government should slash the duty and bring us more in line with what other countries are paying. Lets hope that people make their feelings clear at the next election.

Optimist

Tell your MP what you think http://www.theyworkforyou.com/ If enough people were to make their voice heard your local MP might start worrying about his/her nice little earner i.e. inflation proof pensions nice expense account, and do the job they are paid for

ltm07

melbury wrote: »

But we will keep on paying whatever the price because we are British and that means totally lethargic and can't really be ar**ed to do anything about it - we may moan but we always just cave in (unlike the French). This greedy Government should slash the duty and bring us more in line with what other countries are paying. Lets hope that people make their feelings clear at the next election.

Totally agree with you melbury.