Does petrol cost too much?

Of course, the question that needs to be asked, but seems to be brushed under the carpet is:
How & why was the Government ALLOWED to sneak in & then creap up a p*ss taking 60% tax in the first place!???
Are the British public that stupid / blind / apathetic? - Or more likely the Govermment that was allowed to kick start such a policy acting in a subversive manner?

I had to laugh when I read the car driving moaning about £200 a month on fuel. I get the train/tube to work. I pay £395 a month + fuel for my car for food shopping etc. Stop whining car drivers. TAX is a fact of life.... get over it! Get on with living.

Petrol is far too cheap. But an even cheaper and more environmentally friendly option for transport is riding an electric bike. It has many advantages over a pedal only bike, the additional small amount of electricity it uses can substancially increase the number of miles you can go. The amount of damaging effect petrol does on the environment and the congestion problems cars cause preventing buisiness people from travelling does far more damage than motorists pay for.

The Government had real chance to kick start the economy by slashing the fuel
Tax But instead stuck rigged to there fiscal policy what a shame they have just
Killed off any prospect of any growth. Pity I had high Hope for the coalition.

@Tim... posted 22nd Nov 2010.

I've just come across your remark about how petrol or diesel is not expensive whilst doing some personal research on this very subject.

You use the the 'half litre bottle of water' from Harvey Nic's as a comparison, which, to be honest, i find a little daft. Firstly because you have actually made that comparison and secondly because why would you go to Harvey Nics and buy water form there when you can nip to Sainburys and buy a litre for 68p... Seriously??

So, allow me to put this question to you regarding your bottle of water... imagine this. You live outside a city (You'd like to live nearer to town and perhaps cycle or use public transport, but this is unrealistic as the prices in these areas which would allow you to, are just way too high). Now you work in the city centre, regular job, nothing fancy and have to drive in everyday given the distance you are travelling. But the prices of fuel keep going up which makes making that journey to work almost untenable. You keep trying though but eventually the price rises are too much burden and end up causing more hinderance than help.. this has an impact on the money you have available to actually live. Things like buying food and drink, perhaps that bottle of water we mentioned earlier, becomes increasingly difficult and soon unaffordable because all your money is going on fuel, to get to a job, to pay your own way and taxes, but can't because the very fuel that enables you to get to work actually costs too much.... so you end up not buying that bottle of water and dying of dehydration... so.. is that fuel that you are buying not expensive or does life, being able to live a life hold no value to you?

The government could and should drop the VAT on fuel. It's taxed twice and duty alone costs more than the actual product anyway. Perhaps as a country we need to start looking after the people on these shores first rather than giving away aid to other countries (theres a fair few billion saved that could go towards the national deficit and, in turn, perhaps lower some the costs of this great nation?).

If you had £10 in your pocket, and had a debt/bill for £10 would you loan that £10 to someone else or pay your own bill?

THE USA... the biggets oil consumers on the planet... how much does fuel cost there? We pay 2 or even 3 times as much. Something is wrong. Something has to change.

My wife and I have worked hard all our lives , we have never claimed off the state , we have brought our children up to be usefull members of society , now it is time to sit up and take notice of what is happening in our country.
We have a huge amount paid out each week to lazy workshy scroungers and in many families this is endemic, we go to war and end up losing countless young lives for what? and the cost is so much that we are unable to supply our troops with decent equipment, then we allow so many migrants in that we are in danger of giving our country away to foreigners for free
and we pay for all of this from the huge amount of taxes put on fuel that we buy ,
WHY ARE OUR TRUCKERS AND FARMERS NOT PROTESTING IN THE FRENCH WAY, YOU HAVE THE POWER TO STOP THIS, JUST PARK UP ON THE M WAYS AND WALK AWAY WITH THE KEYS . I KNOW IT IS SEEN AS OLD FASHIONED BUT WHY DID WE FIGHT A WORLD WAR 66 YEARS AGO FOR THIS, IT IS TIME TO STOP MOANING AND START FIGHTING BACK

Petrol and Diesel are NOT EXPENSIVE. Just go to Harvey Nichols and you can get a half litre bottle of water for the price of a litre of petrol.

There is shipping costs, filtration costs, purification costs, labour costs, compensation costs, taxes and VAT on petrol and diesel to oil companies.

Granted the companies who ship the fuel are making a bomb, and so are the government, but Shell provide a fuel for your daily needs, and employ over 8 million employees internationally < without them, and your high costs, you wouldn't be driving at all.

man i hate the cost of chocolate its so expensive

have recently returned from a holiday in the south of France with my Caravan. The price of fuel in France is a lot lower than the UK. The Fench use a system of Toll roads where you can travel from A to B a lot quicker. I believe we should use this system in the UK and reduce the tax on Petrol by 12%. Look at the advantages this will give.
Create more revenue by taxing the HGV both UK and European.
By using the Toll road we would travel faster therefore creating more emissions, again this system would penalise the heavy users.

How does the government justify 80% fuel tax when other European countries
are paying half as much tax .
Therefore transport costs are making it difficult for us to complete on a level
playing field against most other countries.
It is common knowledge that fuel tax in the UK is far higher than any other developed country.

Thank you your website has helped my daughter with her homework wich has made me realise how much we spend on petrol thank you.