Does petrol cost too much?

According to your report we drivers pay out about £30 billions every year in petrol tax. The joint annual profits of all the petrol companies combined was over £60 billions. Therefore our cash-strapped government, by nationalising the petrol conglomerates could cut the petrol tax in half, thus bringing down our cost of living, which in turn would bring a boost to general spending whillst at the same time have the £30 billions in petrol profits in their pockets. And if they were to limit the salaries of the Petrol Companies directors to no more than the Prime Minister earns it would be a win win situation all round.

We now pay 63% tax on a litre of fuel this means by filling up your car with £25 of fuel you pay £9.25 for the fuel and £15.75 to the government this is made up of VAT and fuel duty and then the government charges you VAT on the Fuel duty!!

So they are putting tax on tax the more I think of this the more I think of the word SUCKER! lets protest join 'Eric's fuel protest' get your FREE poster from network2day co uk or com and stick it in the back of your car van or truck and send it to all your friends.

The reason why this happens is simple People do not relies how much tax they pay on petrol, ask five no ask ten people and see if they know how much tax they pay.

If we advertise the fact it will become a major headache for the government and we can stop this day light robbery I think they have just pushed us to BL…Y far

We now pay 63% tax on a litre of fuel this means by filling up your car with £25 of fuel you pay £9.25 for the fuel and £15.75 to the govermet this is made up of VAT and fuel duty and then the goverment charge another lot of VAT on the Fuel duty!! This MADNESS is not helping the Econmy

So they are puting tax on tax the more I think of this the more I think of the word SUCKER!

Lets protest join 'Eric's fuel protest' down load your FREE poster from netwrok2day.co.uk and stick it in the back of your car van or truck and send it to all your friends.

The reason why this happens is simple People do not relies how much tax they pay on petrol, ask five no ten people and see if they know.

If we advertise the fact it will become a major headache for the government and we can stop this day light robbery. I think they have just pushed us to BL…Y far.

I drive a ford Kuga diesel 2.litre.i get aprox 45 to 52mpg.but the cost of fuel is raising concern.it is far to expensive by far.i believe that this government should cut the tax of all fuel both petrol and diesel.every thing is going up and up .food clothes cost of living in general.next week we have the budget.god help us bank managers get they're big millions pay bonus.but the average working class people of Great Britain.that is a laugh. it used to be great ,now people over seas think that England is a joke. Back to the bonuses, Wales is the lowest paid workers in the country. We have a general election and they expect us, the working class people to elect bit fat politicians to put them in power. Take off the taxes off petrol and diesel and fat bonuses paid to bankers, politicians and other highlights who quite clearly do not deserve these massive pay increases. We need a government to support the people of Great Britain, a better way of life. The children of our country is tomorrow's power, lets give them a chance, lets make Britain great again. Keep the industrial power back in Britain. We have our own resources, gas, oil and coal. Lets use it and cut our cost of living and pensioners deserve a better way of life. If people want to work after the age of 65 and they feel up to it, then let them but keep the age to 65 with a good insentive to stay at home and give the younger generation a chance in life and open up apprentiships. Some people are academic and some people are just plain working class with very very poor pay.

I think it is really unfair for large companies like Sainsbury's, Morrisons and Tesco to charge different prices for fuel in different areas, bread is the same price at every store so why not fuel.

they say it is because they are competing with other local factors but i think they are just taking as much as possible from us, our local supermarkets in Cannock staffordshire are consistantly 3-4p per litre more expensive that the same shops in Tamworth for example. this cant be right....

your all g@y

if fuel tax goes towards our upkeep of roads then where does the road tax revenue go?

Good Day. Don't ever take a fence down until you know the reason it was put up.
I am from Arabia and learning to read in English, give true I wrote the following sentence: "Gleefully it increases with a current opportunity, from which it watches in two liquid hands when the podcast contain owning stocks."

Waiting for a reply :(, Phaedra.

If you dont pay taxes on your fuel, they will just tax you else where... They used to tax more heavily on income but reduced that and increased fuel tax in stead.

Fine, ask the goverment to reduce tax, but where should the goverment then tax us more on? road tax!?

I have a 4x4 and I have to pay so much for petrol, my range rover is 5.5 litres

How are you. I feel about airplanes the way I feel about diets. It seems to me they are wonderful things for other people to go on.
I am from Pakistan and learning to speak English, please tell me right I wrote the following sentence: "The pro cision flo applicator penetrates fur for.About all the older methods of flea control that no longer work well."

Waiting for a reply :), Ora.

On a recent trip to Cumbria I was outraged at the diesel fuel prices
being charged at the motorway service stations on M5 and M6.
We fuelled up in Devon at £101.9 only to be charged £108.9 further
up the motorways.
With the volume they sell you'd think the prices would be even better
but I guess its the old "Rip off Britain" syndrome coming into play
as they can get away with it with this captive purchaser.
Just to rub it in when I commented, after the shrug of the shoulder
from the cashier, he commented that most customers were business
travellers. That comment really outrages me as the higher costs
charged to them just get pushed onto the price of our goods eventually.

Richard

We already pay too much our fuel. Too much fuel duty, too much road tax and too much VAT.

u smell haha

As much of a question as a comment: why is there the enormous discrepancy (10-12p) between the price of petrol and the price of diesel? I'd be interested in both the 'official' explanation and what is believed to be the real reason. I always understood diesel was less refined than petrol, therefore requiring less processing. I have often wondered whether the oil companies -seeing the enormous rise in the numbers of diesel vehicles - are seeking to claw back the money they lose from these more economical vehicles by hiking the price. I exchanged emails with Shell on this and was told that there was a 'worldwide shortage' of diesel. To which the only answer might be 'well, wake up!' - this didn't happen overnight. There are three fuel scandals in this country: (1) the duty imposed by the government (2) the high prices exacted by monopolistic oil companies and (3) the outrageous discrepancy in price between diesel and petrol. I believe we should use consumer power to organise boycotts of each petrol company in turn (say for a week each) to demonstrate that we, too, have power. Wouldn't be any great hardship for any of us to fill up at an alternative station for a week. If PetrolPrices were to link up with the ABD (Association of British Drivers) I am certain we could get something going: viral email could reach millions very quickly.

Apologies if I am mis-informed - Our country appears to be heading towards a recession, and as I see it once companies feel a recession is on the horizon they start to cut back, as do the general populace. This then increases the momentum of a recession?

Why does our beleguered Right Honerable Prime Minister Gordon Brown not do something great? Something that will impress the population and be seen to help almost all and everyone of us?

Fuel price increases affect businesses who then have to pass these increases on to the consumer. If the consumer cuts back on spending due to the increased cost of living, then the business suffers further and may go bust causing increased un-employment.

What 'great' thing the Rt Hon Gordon Brown & the Government 'could' do would be to reduce their taxation on the fuel to bring it back in line with there expected revenues before the cost of crude oil rised to the high levels they are now. This may have a detrimental affect on Government revenue, but then so does a recession with the high un-employment and long lasting damage caused to UK business.

Be brave Mr Prime Minister and do something 'Great' for the United Kingdom Of Great Britain. We will certainly respect you for this.

I want to see road tax abilished now as it serves no perpose
I pay £200 plus per year doing 12,000 if that
Somebody else with the same car does 50,000 miles ayear and pay the same where is that fare lets scrap it now i think we would all be happy to pay a little more for fuel with out the road tax
I intend to sey up a web site to see how many people will be prepared to run there cars with no tax in protest at the new fees i for one am
Albert

will we be driving petrol cars in 30 years time?
why or why not

the cost of petrol is ridiculous.
im a student and drive and i cant afford to run my car and its a nightmare.
if i dont drive to college i have no other way of getting there.
im 17years old and cant afford to pay the price of petrol

Well, I see most of these comments are dated 2006. Those of you who have complained about petrol prices back then will be well and truley '$%*£ed' of now as am I. I'm a 19 year old girl with a job that pays about £800 a month after tax at the moment and i can't afford to be putting £50 in a 1.4 to fill it up on top of the many other bills I have and more to come!!!
How do they expect young adults to build their lives when they can't afford day to day things let alone rent when they move out! I think we should just pay one off tax and stop being shafted for every penny we have in our pockets! No other country has to pay so many tax's and at such a high rate so why should we!?!

i think petrol is dear these days

Petrol is ridiculously priced! I have never seen such a fast rise, it's just not stopping!
Why is it the US/Canada and Asia have far cheaper petrol prices? UK must have the highest price globally!
I travel 100 miles a day to go to work, if there was public transport that could get me to work in the time my car does then i would surely make use of it but there isn’t! I'm not on fantastic pay, hardly enough to pay any bill hence I still live with my parents, at the end of the month I pay £350 on petrol and £280 for my car which is on finance... no money left at the end of the month!

Will petrol prices ever go back to what they used to be 60p/litre?

Regards,
Nirmita

petrol is to expensive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

fool duty, i hate being a fool but what choice do i have, hydrogen?
where would we be without greed, well maintained roads, clean streets, good education for all.....

F-U-C-K THE GOVERMENT

i am disabled and live in a rural area in wales and therefore need a vehicle as public transsport is like the priminister useless out here also i have oil heating which now i cant afford so i may die of cold by the end of this winter its ok for mp's & gorden brown they get thousands of pounds they can afford to let there heat go out the window and use big fuel drinking cars so let the people run the country and let them sit on our side of the fence for a change

Well im doing a speech on petrol should be cheaper and i think it should be cheaper because not every family can afford petrol that is $2.09c a litre i went round my class asking o you think petrol should be cheaper? and 22 people said yes and 4 people said no so i think petrol should be cheaper!!!

Petrol is astronimically expensive, its all very well people saying use public transport instead - all they will do is put the prices up of the trains/buses, but anyway I can't use public transport to get to work as I start work at 7am and drive 30 miles to get their, it is a small village that does not have a train station. I only have a micra 1.2 but filling it now takes about £43.00.
I think that the government should really look at themselves - they are asking for pay rises and petrol allowance rises, the average person only gets a payrise once in a blue moon, wish I could claim for a kitchen

Seems to be that every other day petrol and diesil is going up! Why is the goverment being so gready and taking all are money off us! Its not like we dont pay tax out are wages or road tax and everything we buy is taxed! Is that not enough for them! Its so unfair! Me owning a diesil car which is more friendly to the envoirment, which is costing me an extra 15p a litre for just to do that. They will start blaming climate control soon! Are cars only produce 5% of climate control. Its planes and jet fighters what cause all the pollotion! Another thing they keep bunking the price up because they get all there expensis payed for! May be if they had to pay for it there selfs they would soon wise up! Not long ago a was listening to the radio and it was saying Gorden browns cleaning bills are over £2000! This really does make me sick knowing that we are paying for all these MPs to live in luxury and its since Gordon Brown has took over the price of living keeps going up! I say bring David Camron in he seems keen and a think he deserves a chance!

Seems to be that every other day petrol and diesil is going up! Why is the goverment being so gready and taking all are money off us! Its not like we dont pay tax out are wages or road tax and everything we buy is taxed! Is that not enough for them! Its so unfair! Me owning a diesil car which is more friendly to the envoirment, which is costing me an extra 15p a litre for just to do that. They will start blaming climate control soon! Are cars only produce 5% of climate control. Its planes and jet fighters what cause all the pollotion! Another thing they keep bunking the price up because they get all there expensis payed for! May be if they had to pay for it there selfs they would soon wise up! Not long ago a was listening to the radio and it was saying Gorden browns cleaning bills are over £2000! This really does make me sick knowing that we are paying for all these MPs to live in luxury and its since Gordon Brown has took over the price of living keeps going up! I say bring David Camron in he seems keen and a think he deserves a chance!

Unfortunately, there is little we can do. Fuel costs are becoming stupid, I am finding it difficult to afford fuel at the moment. So instead I have decided to bike anywhere under 8 miles away for now, maybe it will increase. I think cycling is the way forward. Say you spent £30 a month on fuel for all these short journeys, you are spending 360 pounds a year, on journeys you can travel to by foot or bike. A good bike costs what £200. Lights £15 helmet and other safety equipment £60. Thats £275 in one year. Already saving money. You will need a max of £50 quid for maintenance a year. Perhaps take insurance for £20 or so a year. If you look at it its quite cost effective. To me its a no brainer. Its a case of sitting it out and waiting for cheaper fuel alternatives to be made readily available.

how can we as ordinary citizens reduce the amount of petrol we use per day?

We should do as our cousins do in the USA and just tell the PM. enough is
enough, motorist should go on strike and boycott the big oil giants.
Lower the fuel duty or the next hike will be yours to the job centre,
how long are we to suffer this labour goverment, cant wait for the next
election and when the other parties are looking for you vote ask them how
much are they going to drop the fuel by say 50%.

Here in Melbourne the annual rainfall has declined by fifty percent since 1997, and trunoff into dams at the present trend will be zero within a year or two. Records from nearby lakes show anthropogenic global warming the only possible cause.

Yet Australia's governments still keep doing some of the silliest things about petrol prices - like removing indexation to keep excise up with inflation. Petrol burning is one of the major causes of the rapid climate changes in Australia and I personally know that the effect is much greater in Australia than anywhere else in the developed world.

By a rough calculation based on hydrological runoff ratios, Australian petrol prices should be ten times those in Europe or Asia or New Zealand or North America. Those who claim distances are too great will be surprised that the average journey in Australia is shorter than in the EU, which further argues for expensive petrol in Australia. In EU petrol prices are around 250 Australian cents per litre, Australians should be paying around $25 per litre, as against the dirt-cheap $1.30 per litre we actually pay and which is clearly causing runaway climate change.

How Australians would cope with massively less cheap petrol is uncertain. There would certainly be protests from both the silent outer suburban majority and powerful corporations - both of whom gag governments to prevent them doing the sensible thing: transferr every cent of the roads budget to mass transit. However, I do believe less cheap petrol would actually encourage far more innovation in Australia than one gets today.

I studying environmental science at uni and thinnk that instead of putting the UK into more and more debt there must be another way of reducing the UK's driving miles.

Mandy Marriot you are completely wrong. 4x4 use in a town or city is completely absurd. First of all No, it is not as economical on fuel as any other car. The bigger the vehicle/the vehicles engine the more fuel it uses up, this is a simple concept. There is then the issue of safety, sure, its safe for the people inside the vehicle but what about the lady in the nissan micra who is involved in a head on collision with your land rover. Or, the 12 year old boy on his bike that rides out in front of your land rover. Lets hope you are not one of the imbeciles that installs cow bars on the front of their 4x4's. These are used by farmers to nudge cows yet some morons that live in london decide its necessary to have one on the front of their shiny new range rover. They dramatically increase the chances of being killed if they hit someone as they render the cars crash impact features useless.

Got to agree with Adam, all this moaning etc is not going to solve anything, we need to make a stand but how do we go about this???

Well considering that Shell & BP has declared today their profits of £3B & £4B it just shows as to much we are being ripped off by them and the Government pricing us out of our cars e.t.c

Why do people continue to look at the wrong side of things. Fuel is way overpriced the question is why. This is so simple it makes me laugh fuel is overpriced for no reason other than the british government slamming high taxes on for profit. Its got nothing to do with the price of the barrel or emissions, if this were the case fuel would not be around 61p a litre in canada which is part of the commonwealth no less. The tax is sky high on fuel not to mention other taxes such as council tax and road tax which pay for what exactly? judging by the state of most of the roads in england it makes you wonder what you actually pay road tax for. I just think to make up for the mess up with immigration and how much the government are paying out on a yearly basis to cover this, they have to get it back somewhere right? so why not punish the british public. This is blatant with the switch around in diesel prices compared to petrol, diesel was always cheaper becuase of how it is produced but now its more expensive. Surprise surprise but in the last 10 years what has increased? The amount of diesel cars on the road thats what and especially these small diesels that do about 70mpg. How could the government combat this, to charge more for diesel so they don't lose out. What other reason could there be? Lets face it things are never gonna change in this country unless it goes into a state of civil uproar but the trouble with the british public, and I include myself in this, is we spend time on here moaning and complaining and voicing our opinions to one another but does anyone actually ever stand up and make a stand. The answer is no, all comes down to the old saying "british people never complain".

tax on petrol & diesel in england is too high.are the government just being too greedy?are these extortionate taxes really necessary?are the taxes raised by the british govt spent wisely?extra taxes will not stop people driving & the excuse that it is to save the environment is not totally true.fuel could easily be charged at 50p a litre & this should allow producers & retail outlets to make a sensible profit whilst a govt that does absolutely nothing in the way of producing fuel or helping find it should only take the bare minimum.
this might well help boost the economy as motorists are already persecuted by spy cameras traffic wardens clampers & extra high taxes.
let this govt earn its taxes honestly & not like street muggers.

YES i have a corsa c when i got it the petrol was at an ok price and it would last, it was cheap to run NOW i only get 2 days out of £10 I am a one parant family and can not really afford it. I now have opened a dog grooming shop and have to pick up dogs, this makes it harder as the petrolprices seem to be going up and up and up :-(

I'd like to know why petrol is so expensive where I live in Baldock, at the moment we are being charged £106.9-108.9 per litre of unleaded but on the other side of Hertfordshire at the weekend I saw the same stores selling it at £103.9 per litre. I was also in norfolk at the weekend and it was £103.9 per litre there too. Why are some areas charged so much more than others isnt that discrimination?

What is the government doing for us?
Nothing what so ever !!
So why do we put up with prices being raised every single budget.
Why do we not all make a stand and strike untill they start to listen.
They give the elerly extra in their pensions but put taxes up !! What is the point.
It is a desgrace that the tax payer pays for them to have extensions in their already massive houses just for them to talk a load of rubbish and take the great out of great britain.
They have ruined this country and will continue to do so untill we make a stand. Ok lets all not buy ciggeretts and not buy petrol then where will they be?? no income for us means no taxes for them !!
They are all full of it and not one of them live in the real world.

OK, I have just paid £1.12 a litre for diesel (and that was at a cheap supermarket petrol station). What I cannot understand is, when petrol/diesel was reaching £1 a litre, people were outraged and people acted with protests and the like. Now it's flying up at a rate of knots - no one seems to be kicking off - Surely I am not the only person who is outraged at the rate of increase (oh and the budget is putting an extra 2p on fuel - the sheer cheek of it). So, is everything quiet on the home front or is someone going to organise some action soon ???????????

Some people are convinced that the whole global warming scenario is a huge storm in a teacup. I don't know about that, but the way that this country, and some others, is making us deal with it is a big con!

People were introduced to the motor vehicle and they loved it. Everybody wanted one and a vast number of people now own at least one, if not two or three and those that don't have one, you can bet, are trying to acquire the resource to buy one - Why? Because, apart from being the most wonderful toy an individual can have, the motor vehicle gives us a level of mobility that we could never have dreamt of before its advent. It extends our ability to reach far away places and to do things that improve our quality of life almost beyond belief. Quite understandably we have a love affair with the motor vehicle. The thought of having our motor vehicles taken away from us or having to give them up presents us with a total nightmare.

Why, in a democratic society - or any society for that matter, should we allow any government to foist that nightmare upon any of us? “Global Warming” they shout. “We must put up the price of fuel” they say, hoping that it will price enough of us off the road to enable them to reach their agreed carbon emission targets and the big corporations to keep sucking the earth dry of oil and sell it are criminally inflated prices!

IT IS NOT THE MOTOR VEHICLE THAT DOES THE POLLUTING – IT IS THE PARTICULAR PRIME MOVER (THE ENGINE) THAT IS WITHIN THE VEHICLE THAT POLLUTES! IF MORE RESOURSE WAS PUT INTO DEVELOPING A PRIME MOVER THAT RAN ON A NON POLLUTING FUEL OR FORCE, THERE WOULD BE NO MORE REASON TO USE POLLUTION AS AN EXCUSE TO PRICE THE MIDDLEMAN OFF THE ROAD.

If there was a war tomorrow and it was required to develop a Prime Mover that ran on dolly mixtures and only omitted the smell of old spice aftershave, you can bet your bottom dollar that within 6 months, the proto-type would be getting tested and in 10 months full production established. Maybe not an engine that runs on dolly mixtures but certainly one that runs on hydrogen or even water (break the water down to it’s constituent parts ie oxygen and hydrogen) or some other non polluting medium, probably, already exists, tucked away in a remote warehouse somewhere. The government and the big oil companies making sure that it stays there, allowing them to continue to make billions of dollars and pounds selling their highly polluting product!

I think that everyone should look at things a whole different way.

Firstly, remember, WE are in control, dont think that the people who run this country can control everyone without our support, they are in fear of us for one reason. We out number those who like to keep things quiet.

There cant be more than a few thousand politician, and as for police there are only around 3% in most towns out of standard residents, the army are probably around 5% of each town occupancy.

Looking at that you may ask yourself, if there are 60 Million people living in the UK, and only 3 Million are on the side of law and order.
How long would it take all of us, the remaining 57 Million to wipe them out and start fresh. Think about it, and take back what is yours.

If everyone from the UK walks directly into London this Christams day, all 57 Million, without causing any agro, can you imagine the problems it would cause. The whole occupancy of the UK in one spot would bring the counrty to a standstill, plus you would be off work anyway so you wouldnt lose out.
I say, everyone from the UK walk along the M25 and see what happens.
There are not enough police or army to stop such a thing, and if they did try there are too many for them to make a difference.

I would say try it, but I know how weak the UK population is regarding fighting for what they want, only a few would get involved which is why this country isnt yours anymore. The people of UK wont stand up for what they want anymore, they like being oppressed and cornered by the powers that be. They like being over taked, underhoused, overcharged and ripped off, it gives them something to whine about. It can stop.... Its in your hands.

We need to protest these taxes that we pay on fuel the bloody (would have used something different) government take the piss charging so much go to most countries and pay no where near as much, WE NEED TO PROTEST WHETHER IT BE AVOIDING PETROL STATIONS CERTAIN DAYS OR BLOCKING THE REFINERYS LIKE THE TRUCK DRIVERS DID A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO SHOW THE GOVERNMENT WE MEAN BUSINESS AND NOT ALL MOUTH AND NO TROUSURES, SHOW THEM THEY CANNOT DO THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LETS JOIN TOGETHER AND STOP THIS OUTRAGES COSTS!!!

LETS GO NATIONAL NEWS WITH THIS COME ON!!!

Lee Pickett
Worthing, Sussex.

I only passed my test three months ago but have always kept an eye on the price of petrol since i was a little boy. £103.9 is what i paid this morning for my petrol, its a complete outrage. Everyone was like OMG its going to hit a pound, but now that its happened they are just gna keep puting it up and up. I say we should have a nationwide strike, everyone should have a day strike, it would Dent the countrys economy so bad just from one day the goverment would have no choice but listen. STRIKE STRIKE.

Thank you

AJ

the goverment are con men and its about time britan stood up and protested why is the us petrol still the same?

i am sick to death of paying this huge lump sum of money on petrol. what makes it worse is that little snobs who are so rich, think the cost of fuel is fine and think that its alrite to pay £1.00 a litre because there will be less cars on the road. the truth is that there will always be conjestion, because trying to force people of the road will not work. as a country we need to stop standing for it, and unite and protest. there is about 3% of the country who disagree with me, but the other 97%, dont sit back anymore, we need to create a petition or something. ENGLAND WE NEED TO STOP THIS FROM GETTING WORSE