30.03.09 Cheapest fuel in the UK in protest over duty hike
Should fuel tax be spent solely on transport?
A garage owner is slashing 5 pence off his pump prices for the next 3 days in protest at the fuel duty hike coming into force this week.
Chris Woodruff, managing director at Jet's Darsham Service Station in Suffolk is dropping the price of his unleaded to 84.9 pence and diesel to 94.9 pence, making his station the cheapest in the UK by 3 pence per litre.
He is aiming to highlight the latest fuel duty rise of 2 pence on April 1, the second in the last 6 months.
This is not the first time Mr Woodruff has cut his prices to highlight fuel tax increases – he first slashed prices last December in protest at the 2 pence rise in fuel duty.
The stunt will cost Mr Woodruff around £2000, but told PetrolPrices.com that it's worth the money because someone needs to take a stand on behalf of motorists: “It's purely and simply down to the fact that someone's got to start shouting.”
Mr Woodruff is also printing 2 pence off vouchers which drivers can redeem until the Budget on April 22, during which time he hopes to make enough noise to get the 2 pence per litre hike reversed.
He believes that the Chancellor should use the Budget to reduce fuel tax to bring the UK into line with the rest of Europe, and to start spending the tax revenues on transport: “If they'd invested the money in the same place that they taxed it we wouldn't worry as much. It's because it's not going back in the same pot that it makes me so angry.”
He told the East Anglian Daily Times: “People have got to understand that in Suffolk we need to have our transport and the Government is putting 5% on road transport costs in six months and it has to stop.”
Do you support Mr Woodruff? Do you agree that fuel tax should be spent solely on transportation? Do you think the Chancellor will reverse the duty increase in the Budget?
Your Comments
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I wish more people in our great nation would take action like this, i remeber being in telford for 3days when the petrol was @ 80.9. By the time i left it was 86.9 how can it rise so quickly?
I wish the government would look at the bigger picture the more they hike fuel the less we drive therefore the less we spend and the less we spend we then dive even firther into a financial hole.
I agree, also when petrol goes down inflation does as well, all those billions wasted on the VAT cut could have gone towards 12p -15p off fuel duty for a month or so, then we will see improvements in the economy, jobs saved and businesses saving money as well! I dont know why we dont do what the french do.... block everything, that would make brown and darling listen!
strike strike strike!
JP
our local total station put its pump prices up 2p last week in anticipation so and it has now put them up another 3p!!!!!!!!!