The Pre-Budget report was released today.
Gordon Brown has increased the price of fuel (both petrol and diesel) by 1.25 pence per litre.
The change will come into effect from from midnight tonight.
The Chancellor has not restored the above-inflation fuel duty escalator.
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Old Fuel Duty = 47.10p/litre + 1.25p/litre = New Fuel Duty = 48.35p/litre.
Old Vat = 8.24p/litre/ New Vat = 8.46p/litre.
Old Duty/Vat = 55.34p/litre. New Duty/Vat = 56.81p/litre.
Total rise in Fuel Duty = 1.47p/litre. Cute eh?
When new Retail Prices come into effect, the Vat on the price will increase also. The total increase to the motorist will be in the region of 2p/litre or 9p/Gal.
Brown will not make it to election, he will be ousted, trouble is who is going to replace him?. What price will fuel be in say one year from now £1.20 per ltr?.
Where are they Biofuels you ask Ian?
Biofuels do exist, they are tucked away, offered only by small private producers purely because nobody has any incentive to produce it in any real quantity because the Government tax it just the same as regular fuel. In fact the duty has just been raised on BioDiesel too, so it probably won't be much cheaper than regular diesel, and the few that are producing it will probably just call it a day.
Since nobody is bothering to invest money in or cut duty on alternative sources of fuel, not to mention incentives for businesses to produce (and switch) then this whole global warming thing musn't be that important after all!!!.
BTW:- If you want to take advantage of cheap Biodiesel then check out Ebay.
with the efect of the rise of this tax this has just made my local fuel station go up to 90.9 for unleaded and 96.9 for diesel, although i can go down to my local supermarket just 3 miles down the road and get unleaded for 87.9 and diesel for 92.9, but i hear the fuel from supermarkets is not as good as from our fourcorts? when will this price rise ever end??? i think its about time that they bring in that all fuel should be the same price nationwide!!!!
As far as I'm aware, LPG is still a viable alternative fuel, and is much cheaper than petrol or diesel. Cleaner too. Just a thought.
Real good to see the comments above I wondered if I would be the only one to comment on this!! Good point made by Rob though, everyone who commented should advise all the people they know (family and freinds etc etc) to go to ASDA for fuel(if possible) as they generally provide as good as you can get on petrol prices/diesel prices most of the time unlike Esso and Shell. As for local prices round here I have been told for diesel the price has gone up to 93.9 from 91.9(WHAT A JOKE!!!) and for unleaded up to 90.9 from 88.9 (EVEN BIGGER JOKE!!!) glad i dont use diesel!!. Mr Brown's 1.25p a litre rise was VERY VERY misleading!!!I am kind of forced to go 10 miles to High Wycombe ASDA where its 86.9 for unleaded and 89.9 for diesel which aint amazing but is slightly better!! I dont understand why the massive difference between diesel and unleaded sometimes 5p+ difference!!I thought diesel needs less effort to make!! I am sure Mr Brown's 2.5litre V6 Vauxhall Omega drinks fuel BIG time!! but of course does he pay for it himself?NO NO NO!!! Happy xmas all!!! Great useful site LONG LIVE THE MOTORIST!!
Reference the comments of biodiesel.
There are a few producers around that are producing and selling biodiesel to the public from pumps and in bulk containers. The problem with the budget is that biodiesel duty gets a 20p per litre discount on mineral diesel so when the duty of diesel was 47.1p the duty on biodiesel was 27.1p or 42.46% discount - now duty has risen to 48.35 per litre biodiesel still gets a 20p discount so duty on biodiesel is now 28.35p per litre or 41.36% discount.
Mr Brown's 'green' policy is to increase duty on ordinary fuels and increase biodiesel even more.
What a load of bo*****s these price rises are....Happy Xmas indeed.
The motorist pays the price yet again.....Vote labour my arse
I am sure that LPG is great provided you can get it, according to the front page of this site my nearest outlet is 23 miles away, at a motorway service area.
So a 46 mile round trip just to buy LPG, Coupled with a £1500 conversion charge or having to purchase a dedicated duel fuel car, I don't think i'll bother anytime soon.
I will believe all of this environmental cobblers, when I see the Government spending as much on awareness and alternative fuel adverts as it does on reminding us to get our tax return in on time.
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Does any one know how much it cost to charge an electric car?
The best buy I made was my baby Merc. "The Smart Car" I get 50-60 miles to the gal and my road tax is £40 per year. It is either manual or automatic with the push of a button. Two airbags. Turbocharged. group 2 insurance.central locking. air cond, alarm, elec windows. The only draw back is: I have driven for 30 years with a clean linence until I bought my Smart Car, before I knew it I had three indorsments, not one above 35 miles per hour, and all taken from a road side camera in a police van. I had to put a notice in the back window. "Have nine points please pass. This was for the white van drivers who get onto your tail and try and make you go faster.
Its funny I hav'nt met any body who voted this shower in. Lets vote them out next time.
well we need it what ever the price is and for my car i only use texaco's high octane fuel which is at 99.9 per litre
Funny thing about the increase is that the 1.25p increase put on by the guy from the government in the mask has been translated to a 2p hike at my local filling station!
Remember that Labour is for the working man what a load of c**p. This oufit has instigated daylight robber on the working man if it isnt a tax on fuel its an increase in you rcouncil tax and this will soon include you parking space so even if you dont use the car they will have you. And lest we forget you pension is buggered too!
Happy Christmas where's the bottle o b***** thats gone up too!!!!!
With these price increases our friend (!!) at No. 11 is hurting British Industry. Increases in diesel prices (already far higher than almost anywhere else in Europe) puts up the cost of getting goods from the factory. My company is competing on the export market with companies in Europe where transport costs are lower due mainly to lower fuel duties. Thanks Mr Brown for making life just that little more difficult.
PS Interested to see Shell do not seem to have raised prices.
I see no-one has mentioned the potential rise in food and goods as the extra added fuel tax makes it more expensive to transport our goods to the shops.
I have a friend who works for a well known fuel company and he say's that the supermarket fuel is diluted with ether up to 1 third before you purchase it, think about it for a moment petrol and diesel is the only product you never get to see and yet you buy tons and tons of the stuff, I wonder what the result would be if someone where to take a sample one day and have it tested for the percentage of petrol or diesel? maybe ether hides itself in the ingredients so well that it is undetectable.(they call it detergent) the biggest supermarket beginning with a T, I stay away from their diesel only gives me around 250 miles to eleven gallons (one tank full) i can get around 500 miles out of shell.
BP is also very good but it is a little pricey compared to shell. look out for the franchised garages they tend to keep the price lower than those that are run by the actual company. if you have a diesel there are cheaper ways to travel the actual veggie oil conversion price is becomming more and more attractive to me now and I am disabled and unable to work at the moment a one off payment of £1500 seems a small price to pay for the conversion costs although there are kits from Austrailia which cost around £500 the only trouble is once tony and his cronies get wind of it it will cost us a fiver for enough oil to fry a handful of chips. I do not understand why this country has gone the same way as germany they sell bio-diesel at the pump for around 35p a litre. I tried a 50-50 mix of veggie oil and diesel in my car at my last MOT and the emissions where lower than the previous year, ok it smells of chips but hey who cares if you want to be really honest and pay the duty of 26p per litre you can but the amount you declare isn't based on your milage not yet anyway, it's based on what you decide to declare, BUT BE CAREFUL you can do serious DAMAGE to your vechicle if you do not follow certain RULES before you start putting veggie oil in your car. it will void the warrenty of any car currently under warrenty the manufacturers haven't tested it properly yet. my car is semi converted and I now see around 87miles to the gallon on a long journey ie over 100 miles. which for a two litre diesel is fantastic. your car must not have a high pressure injection engine ie HDi the jets cannot cope with the viscosity of veggie oil even if you mix it with diesel.
You must have a certain type of fuel pump and fuel pumps are very very expensive to replace, I'm not giving away all because you are probably reading this because you are on the web so type veggie oil and see where it takes you try bio diesel to. it's high time we had other choices if i met you face to face i would show you how the only trouble is I don't really want to pay a fiver for one litre of oil at the moment but you can do it if you really want to you have a search engine and the world at your fingertips good luck.
To answer some of the previous comments:
The reason the fuel has gone up about 2p per litre but the duty was only 1.25p per litre is that you have to add VAT to the fuel duty which makes a rise of 1.47p per litre.
If you use biodiesel made to the european specification of EN14214 then you should be able to use it in your car without any modifications or problems. It has no sulphur and less harmful emitions and is beneficial to your engine. There are private companies producing biodiesel and there is a discount of 20p per litre (plus the VAT is 23.5p per litre) but productions costs are slowly increasing making it less competitive.
Biodiesel is different to vegetable oil and does not compare.
I don't know where you are all based but Pace Spar Garage, Kings Road, Herne Bay, Kent has a happy hour every monday - Friday 12.30 to 1.30pm when there is 4p off a litre of petrol and a free paper if you tank up. Great idea.
WHY WHY WHY WHY are you silly people buying ytour fuel from supermarkets you all should know by now that its not as good as real fuel stations
As the cost of oil dropped a couple of months ago petrol prices were also reduced but what about diesel? Before the event diesel was at most 2p above petrol, many forecourts had diesel on a par with unleaded. But although diesel prices were reduced they are now 5-8p above unleaded. Whatever happened to the encouragement to change over to diesel on green issues. Does anyone know who is ripping us off on the cost of diesel - it's about £1.25 /gallon cheaper on most of the continent?
Whatever happened to democracy in the UK?
In 2005 the Avg differential between Unleaded 95 and Diesel was 4p/litre.
This year, so far it's Avg is 5p/litre. It costs more to refine Diesel, most people mistakenly think it's cheaper, the truth is it's not.
The present Market Differential is 4p/litre. However this is for 50ppm Sulpher.
Diesel is heading in most cases for 10ppm, at the moment it is obligtary only.
Reprocessing Diesel to lower Sulpher Levels is very expensive, funnily enough the more Sulpher taken out, the MPG falls for Diesel.
Overall, if you drive less than 14,000 miles a year. Overall it's cheaper in a Petrol Vehicle. The Green Issues are in a straight fight, with Economic Issues.
Can anyone please tell me why after a tax increase of 1.25 ppl last week my local Shell filling station has raised the pump price by 3ppl? I thought that oil price levels were either stable or dropping.
I WORKED FOR NUMEROUS OIL COMPANIES IN THE PAST AND MOST OFTHE TIME WE WERE MAKING 1-2p PER LITRE OF FUEL- WE WERE THE TAX COLLECTORS FOR THE GOVERNMENT. (VAT AND FUEL TAX ) WHY CAN THE SUPERMARKETS SELL CHEAPER?
BECAUSE THEY HAVE A DEAL WITH THE OIL COMPANIES TO PAY FOR THE FUEL THEY BUY 3 MONTHS IN ARREARS! HOW MUCH DOES THAT EQUATE TOO IN PROFIT! THATS WHY THEY CAN UNDER CUT THE INDEPENDANT FORECOURTS.
AS DIFFERENT FUEL- NO ITS NOT IT ALL COMES FROM THE SAME DEPOT WHICH EVER IS NEAREST TO THE SERVICE STATIONS AS TRANSPORTATION COSTS HAVE TO BE KEPT TO A MINIMUM.
THE DIFFERNCE OF 30 MILES FROM THE TANKER DEPOT CAN ADD 1.5PPL TO THE SUPERMARKET LITRES IN DIFFERENT TOWNS - THE NEAREST THEY ARE TO THE MOTORWAY PLUS THE COMPETITION IN THAT AREA WILL AFFECT THE PRICE. NO COMPETITION AND HIGHER PRICES! COMPETITION AND THEY WILL KEEP IT AT LEAST 1p CHEAPER PPL.
I WOULD RATHER PAY 50p MORE PER FILLUP (50LTRS) THAN USE THE SUPERMARKETS.
WHEN THE INDEPENDANTS GO THE SUPERMARKETS CAN HAVE A FREE REIGN TO CHARGE WHATEVER THEY LIKE.
SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL GARAGE OTHERWISE THEY WONT BE THERE SOON.
support ur local garage lets get the campain underway SULG
If petrol retailers (supermarkets in particular) make so little profit, how is it that a particular supermarket can sell it for as much as 4 or 5p a litre cheaper in some of their branches? I believe they raise the price as high as the (local) market will allow.
If I want to buy, for example, a Sony TV from Dixons, Dixons will charge you the same in their Aberdeen branch as they would in their Brighton branch.
Petrol retailers may have a much lower margin than most other retailers, but just look at their volume sales. Their cash throughput is enormous. And all that cash taken on a daily basis is banked and earns them vast profits before they have to pay the wholesaler and the vat and excise.
Don't feel too sorry for them. They wouldn't be doing it if it wasn't VERY profitable for them.
The difference between Petrol and Diesel prices should be obvious.
During the 80's and early 90's when diesel cars were smelly, ran like tractors and were slow then only a small percentage of drivers owned them and diesel actually cost LESS than petrol.
With technology changing, and diesel cars which can produce similar BHP levels to those of similar engined petrols whilst offering upto 25% better fuel economy then ownership of the diesel engined car has flourised. Hence, more and more diesel fuel is being sold on the forecourts.
Naturally, if diesel was sold at a cheaper price than petrol then the tax revenue would be lower, so the Government steathily increased the price over a period of years.
Take a look at diesel prices in other European prices, most are well below the cost of fuel and are produced by the same oil companies!. In other words, Diesel still remains well below the cost of petrol on a per litre basis all over Europe, except in the UK where it is some 5 - 7p a litre dearer.
'Nuff Said!
This is only part of it don't forget 1.25p rise is plus 17.5% VAT or tax on tax.
Just another Gormless Gordon's rip off. Expect rises right across all sectors as a result of increased transport costs. This does change the meaning of Green taxes its only Green if you are green enough to believe it.
I have to say that I am really unhappy that prices are heading towards those 90's again. I really do see those panic buying days coming back in the near future. Will it help? I hope so. I have even had to keep holidays spare just incase this happens so that I can just miss as much of it as possable and still pay my other bills. Anyway i hope that prices fall again or at the very least go NO higher than they are now.
Is supermarket petrol really 'that much' worse than oil company garages ?
qoute "supermarket fuel is diluted with ether up to 1 third before you purchase it"
One third ??? surely not ! so they only sell 2 thirds petrol/diesel and 1 third ether ? surely they couldnt call it a litre of petrol/diesel then ? does there whisky contain 1 third orange juice ??
quote "the biggest supermarket beginning with a T, I stay away from their diesel only gives me around 250 miles to eleven gallons (one tank full) i can get around 500 miles out of shell."
double the mpg from shell ? pull the other one....
do you work for shell ?
All Fuels, whether "Supermarket" or "Major Brands" comply to a certain standard by Regulation.
This is the "Spot Price" which is Basic Fuel, no additives.
The only difference, comes when the "Additive Mix" is applied, there are many "mixes", but mostly of the detergent type and combustion point.
"Supermarkets" use mixes at the lower end of the scale, they also get discounts for "Bulk Buying" from Refiner's. Plus they buy ahead, and pay in a 90 Day Credit Window.
Supermarket Petrol Station's, usually sell fuel at the break even point, the object of the exercise, is to get you to their store. Where they usually more than make up, for what appears to be "cheap " fuel.
The Supermarket "Bean Counter's" run on very fine margin's, but the combination of Fuel and Store, make for healthy profits as always.
All that glitters, is not gold.
You would have thought that with the fuel price's continuing to rise the majority of motorist's would be lowering there speed to try and get the best out of a full tank of fuel.
With reading other comment's about supermarket fuel's being a worse fuel the leading brand's. I use 99 ron in my car (Octavia vRS )and i've found very little difference between Tesco's and shell. I still manage to average about 45+ mpg on a 100 mile journey yes around town this will drop to about 30 - 35mpg, this work's out that a full tank of fuel get's me about 400+ miles not bad for a car rated as a hot hatch!
I have a Grande Punto 1.9JTDM Sporting (130bhp) and average 40-45 mpg mainly driving a 20 mile distance on the M4, although if I drive longer distances I tend to average well above 50mpg.
Until recently I was using Shell diesel (Shell Extra Diesel is not for sale in Wales due to logistical reasons) and economy figures were as mentioned above. Same with Tesco or Sainsbury's diesel.
I have recently started using BP Ultimate Diesel and so far I have seen no difference in economy BUT: the car pulls noticeably strongly in low revs than before AND does not smoke at all while accelerating flat out!
Could that be down to BP Ultimate being a better diesel than Shell, Tesco and Sainsbury's?
Happy Christmas to all!
Thanks to Learjet for telling us who is responsible for the great diesel rip off. The cost of refining diesel to pump standards has to be around an unbelievable 20% more expensive than for unleaded, which incidentally is also reduced in sulphur levels. The difference in mpg from reduced sulphur diesel will hardly be noticed by the average driver.
Where in the distillation process is the sulphur removed and does the price of diesel actually include the cost of unleaded sulphur reduction?
If the 2p duty advantage for diesel still exists (I may be wrong but have no recollection of it being removed) then the difference between the two fuels is increased by that 2p, plus VAT.
Colin Outram
The Fuel Duty for Unleaded 95 and Diesel is the same, at present time it stands at 48.35p/litre + Vat of 8.46p/litre = 56.81p/litre Total.
This is then deducted from the Pump Price, the remainder is then subject to Normal Vat @ 17.5%. This is then added back to the Fuel Duty Total, to give the Grand Total of Fuel Duty + Vat.
At the moment it runs at 69.66% for Unleaded, and around 66.48% for Diesel of the Avg Pump Price in the UK.
To Refine Contract Crude to "Basic Unleaded" 50ppm = 5.33p/litre-approx.
To Refine Contract Crude to "Basic Diesel" 50ppm = 6.33p/litre-approx.
This does not include getting Sulpher Content to 10ppm.
The Market Differential between the two fuels is dropping, because the Market trades at 50ppm Fuel as yet. This will change when 10ppm becomes compulsory.
Fuel prices in this part of the country have gone up 4p ltr. Can someone tell me why.
Where as Shell have only put it up 2p ltr.
If we pay much more tax we will have nothing to live on.
Happy xmas to all, and a happy new year .
All my life I have voted labour, not any more, would rather vote for monster raving loony party now.
I have relatives in the USA and over there if they hike the gas prices up well everyone boycotes that company and they bring them into line, I dont understand how they can over there keep the gas prices down when all that happens here is the government uses it as an excuse to put prices up for the slightest reason, my personal thoughts in this country, I was born and bred here, we MOAN like crazy but never do anything about it, it would be nice if we the poeple finaly got the balls to stand up and make this or any government we elect listen to the people instead of letting them do what they like. when they get into power they promise the moon, and when they get there they have an eclipse and hide, working man gets a taste of the good life , money and power sod me he turns into one of THEM, mind you there are one or two who try but for themthey are out numbered by the bad guys, Maybe one day We will stand up to them and make them listen.
Dam it all I've turned into Victor Meldrew.
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All three majpr parties are commited to raising taxes on fuel.
The Tories would increase fuel duty much more than Labour(and dont forget it was them that brought in the fuel duty escalator)
And Lib Dems would raise fuel duty even further than the other two.
So you see, if you dont wanna vote Labour, then fine but THERE IS NO ONE from the 3 parties who actually have got a chance, even a small chance of coming to power who would be on the motorists' side.
Frankly, I find it astonishing that our elected government have the brass neck to charge us VAT on top of fuel duty, and don't forget that we've already payed what -25% PAYE on our hard earned income? but -hey-ho, it's all just tax. (probably around 95% per gallon in total!)
The thing is, they say they've only been doing it for our own good, ie. to reduce traffic, emmisions, promote exercise/healthy life style etc. but has it worked? Well just witness all the mums driving their kids to school, the GTIs, the 4wds, MPVs and FUVs (no -not a typo!). I'd say it hasn't!
Well you lot, if you want the price of fuel to drop, you'd better stop whingeing and play them at their own game. Walk your kids to school, buy the most economical car you can for the size you need, keep your speed down and don't make unneccessary journeys. Hell -buy a bike for local journeys if you can - a Honda50 if you can't.
The truth is - the oil companies WANT us to use their fuel. They can't produce significantly less of it at the drop of a hat because they are geared up to make a certain amount, so if we can all reduce that demand by 25% they'll be begging us to take it off their hands and prices will tumble. You may even see the supermarkets offering 10% off a trolley of shopping with every tank of fuel!
Good luck!
What is all the fuss about with the price of petrol ? When I started motoring in the 1950's, petrol was 3 shillings a gallon (15p in today's money).
With inflation, this would now be the equivalent of £6 per gallon, so I say again, what is all the fuss about ? It is mainly because of the relatively cheap price of petrol that there are so many cars on the roads !
What i want to know is why do we pay more than the Americans? $3.oo per gallon, when i think its mainly there fault the oil prices are as high as they are any way. If evryone avoided lets say for instance the (texaco) fule staions through out the country for for a week they would have to drop there pricese to get people back or they would go under, this would then start a price war which would benifit us all.
Interesting to notice that BP prices seem to be on the up still, my local garage which is a large BP Connect format site is charging 91.9 for unleaded and 95.9 for diesel. BP Ultimate unleaded is an expensive 97.9 whilst Ultimate diesel is an absolutely extortionate 105.9!!
I'm not quite sure why people use BP, they seem to be the most expensive of all.
On 1st January 2007, the avg cost across the U.S. of a gallon of Reg 87 octane petrol was $2.33cts. The gallon in question is 3.785 litres in volume.
The avg cost of gallon of 95r in the UK would have cost £4.01pence, but the gallon would have contained 4.546 litres. One difference.
The amount of tax on avg, paid in the US on a gallon equals 18% of the purchase price. In the UK it is close to 70%. Second difference.
If you took all taxes from both prices, the difference would equal 1.12 pence a litre higher in the UK. At the exchange rate of 1.9649.
The exchange rate is the third difference, all Oil Business is conducted in US Dollar's, therefore prices vary.
Hi...it's hardly surprising Petrol Prices.Com merely highlights the fact oil companies and supermarkets operate a cartel, price-fixing so blatant it beggars belief.
I live in a major city and can guarantee, along with PP, that prices have varied for a very long time1p at most. There is NO COMPETITION AT ALL! I think Shell etc and the supermarkets take each alternate week to cash in!
Of course, the culprits are not only the oil companies/supermarkets. We all know it's down even more to the percentage rip-off of each litre that swells the Exchequer's coffers.
As for those obnoxious weaklings at AA and RAC, who so fervently claim to represent the motorist, all they can come up in times of price controversy and anything else concerning the motorist...is the tiresome bleat of: 'it's not fair..'
If they had any real concern for the motorist, they'd organise a significant protest/boycott...under the banner 'Enough!'...and fight this feckless, wastrel government on a real battlefield.
Of course, we have the ballot box to stick it to that puffed-up bore of a Chancellor (next PM....oh, for pity's sake!)...but I suspect no matter who takes over, will show no fairness....since now the convenient shibboleth of 'global warming' is there to fall back on!
Any chance we and PP can mount our own protest??
Regards to all sufferers!
Are we going to see another price war starting folks?
Asda are cutting prices from today for both unleaded and diesel. About time too considering how much the price of oil has fallen in the last few days. The current price of $55 a barrel at the end of yesterday's trading is the lowest for a long time.
Asda are now charging 85.9 for unleaded and 89.9 for diesel. Hopefully all other main garages will match that or beat it and we will see prices return to how they were before our useless government increased the fuel duty.
As of yesterday in the West Midlands area, Asda, Morrisons, Sainsburys, Shell and Esso were charging 85.90p/litre for 95r Petrol in some stations.
Diesel remained at 90.90p/litre in most stations.
Even at 85.90p/litre for 95r Petrol, and 89.90p/litre for Diesel.
Asda will make 3.36p/litre profit approx on Petrol, and 4.34p/litre on Diesel.
This is before Station costs are deducted, which in their case will be small. The discount they receive on the fuel, will outweigh their costs.
At present time, nobody wants to enter into a "Price War" there's too much fuel around because of mild temperature's, but who knows?
I live in the middle of two quite big towns they are both about 9 miles from me and one of them has a morrisons and a tescos and are selling unleaded for 84.9p per litre and have been for over a week now. But the town in the opposite direction has only a tesco and then the proper petrol stations (e.g Shell Texaco e.t.c) but the lowest price there is 86.5p per litre so there is a price war where they have to compete but then make their money where they don't.
All Petrol Station margins are subject to the "Through Volume Formula" on which prices are based. Consequently Stations with "low volume" will charge higher prices, than stations with a higher volume.
"Supermarkets" are more interested in "Store Volume" rather than "Station Volume" and will compete with each other to maintain such.
Where there is no other store, they will not compete with their suppliers.
They never bite the hand that feeds them. First rule of business.
Most of you seem to forget that it was the CONSERVATIVES who first introduced the Fuel Duty Escalator back in the early 90's. Labour actually freezed this to give relief to motorists! Why on earth do you keep blaming Labour? Blame the Tories!
The Tories are promising to re-introduce the Fuel Duty Escalator if they become elected. What planet are some of you on? Why the constant Labour-bashing?
Sir,
Once again the motorist has been made the Whipping Boy by a Goverment that likes wasting money, for those in the rural areas, there is no other choice than to travel by car. also it puts the price up on products that are transported by road. if one works out the tax paid in the UK, it works out at about 75% of every pound earned.
yours sincerely
J.V.Appleton
Environmental taxes, as a proportion of national income, have fallen under this Labour government. The cost of motoring would probably be higher if the Conservatives were in power - especially with this phoney "Green" David Cameron.
Those of you driving a few miles to get fuel 1p per litre or cheaper should spare a moment to consider the cost of the trip, it could easily cost more to do the trip than you would save on refueling at the nearest location. My rule of thumb would be don't go more than around 2 miles out of your way, and then only if filling up most of the tank.
... Unless you're passing the station on the way to somewhere. :)
As for Fuel Duty - public transport should never have been privatised. The way to cut carbon emissions is to significantly reduce the cost of public transport - not to continuously increase in Fuel Duty.
Just look at the recent price hikes made by the railway companies. It's ridiculous. Soon we'll be stuck in our houses going nowhere if things don't change!
Vote for moi! - I'll bring your prices down! :P
I find it rather strange and damn right annoying that petrol companies started pushing up prices in the lead up to the Xmas holidays (well above the nice Mr Browns increase.)
As many people got ready to set off to visit family/friends all over the country, and with flights grounded at many airports, the prices steadily rose until I was paying 94.9 pp litre for diesel.
Surprise surprise now the season of goodwill has passed the price has now dropped and I now pay 89.9 pp litre!!!!
What unashamedly exploitation by these money grabing *******s
Petrol / Diesel is no different from many other items, and sufferers from the rules of "supply and demand", as well as the rules of competition.. In time of high demand, prices will tend to go up.
If there is a lot of competition, prices will be lower ... but why would anyone want to sell anything at a massively lower price (and thus profit) than they need to? As a result, where there is good competition, the prices will tend to be fairly similar: the garage only needs to be 0.1p/litre cheaper to be "the cheapest in town"!!!
Re costs of going a few miles to fill up at a lower price: when you are filling up with 60 litres, then a 1p price difference is a total of 60p, which covers about 5 miles. So a mile or two is probably worth it... but otherwise I agree 100%, I generally don't go out of my way to fill up. (and given that my local filling station is 200yds from home, I can save that way PLUS help a local business to boot!!!)
i totally agree with you guys its a total joke i have to travel 9 miles to local tesco as local garage charges 89.9p for unleaded 4p a litre more than tesco.
i travel 520 miles from wales to lancashire every month to see my daughters and the tesco petrol was cheaper there than here and asda even cheaper back there.....seems to me its all bowt robbing as much cash from the motorist, and i will never vote for labour again they are an insult to their working man ethos....hand rubbing, money grabbing, taxing, goverment who are just so far removed from reality its unbelievable.
This isn't Labour's fault. They have actually frozen the Fuel Duty Escalator - blame the Tories! If the Tories were in power now you'd be seeing far higher fuel prices - fact. There's no arguing about it. Stop reading these Labour-bashing tabloids.
Whilst New Labour is basically a Tory-Lite Party, I'd still vote for a Labour government anyday. The Tories are the ones who increased VAT from 15% to 17.5% and they were the ones who first introduced the Fuel Duty Escalator - therefore giving Britain the world's highest petrol prices. The Tories are the fans of indirect taxation, not Labour.
It's also a good job we have the supermarkets providing fuel, since without them we'd see Texaco and Shell, etc., charging higher prices. Anyway, it's the Fuel Duty that gives the British the highest fuel costs in the world, not the fuel companies.
I think Fuel Duty is one of the worst things about this country. Why do we pay the highest fuel costs in the world when the selfish and arrogant US of A won't contribute towards reductions in CO2 emissions? Why is the unfair burden left on Europe, and Britain in particular?
Out of the three main parties, Labour is the most sceptical about increasing Fuel Duty - since they recognise indirect taxation hurts the poor most. The Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats both want to resume the Fuel Duty Escalator.
So... vote for the Tories or the Lib Dems and you'll be seeing even higher fuel prices. :)
Oh I'm sorry... I forgot... everything's Labour's fault! *sigh*
I AGREE, if Tories get into power they have vowed to bring back the fuel duty escalator, in return for reducing taxes in other areas like halving the council tax.
Spot Crude in NW/Europe closed at $52.18/Bbl yesterday the 10th Jan 2007.
Contract Crude bought from OPEC closed at $50.56/Bbl the same day.
Non-Opec Crude closed below $50.00/Bbl.
Somewhere, somebody is making a lot of money, just by buying in one market, and selling in another. No refining needed.
Avg Retail Prices are barely dropping. A rather strange state of affairs.
"Oil prices fall beneath the $52-a-barrel mark for the first time since May 2005". Quoted from the BBC.
Call me cynical if you like but when oil or fuel tax goes up, the pump price rises almost immediately. There does not seem to have been any drop in pump prices in my region recently especially from our friends at Tesco where they only have a competitive price when there is another supermarket rival in the immediate area.
Tesco and Asda have dropped prices to 84.9p for unleaded and 87.9p for diesel in Stafford.
Spot Crude in NW/Europe closed at $50.76/Bbl on 12th Jan 2007.
Contract Crude bought from OPEC closed at $49.13/Bbl.
Non-Opec Crude closed at $48.00/Bbl approx.
On the Products Market NW/Europe, Spot Petrol closed at 18.52p/litre.
Diesel (Sul/50ppm) closed at 21.90p/litre.
Differential between the two fuels = 3.38p/litre.
All Retail Prices, including "Supermarkets" are well in excess of the base costs for both fuels.
Prices in Eastbourne, East Sussex
Unleaded / Diesel per litre
Asda 84.9 / 87.9
Tesco 85.9 / 88.9
Sainsbury's 84.9 / 97.9
3 local Esso garages 85.9 / 88.9
Total garage 87.9 / 92.9
Somerfield 87.9 / 91.9
Any Non-Refiner or Supermarket could sell 95r at 83.90p/litre.
Their profit would be 3.37p/litre or 4.03% of the pump price.
With Diesel at 86.90p/litre, their profit would be 3.32p/litre or 3.82%.
Anything above 3.00% of the pump price, is classed as good money.
My local Tesco (with no other local supermarket competition) is now the most expensive in the area @ 88.5 ppl for 95RON. The locals don't seem to be able to get enough of it.
No wonder Tesco is make such huge profits.
Why can't people just shop around. I find it so annoying.
Fuel costs and taxation now seems to be more about "Global Warming". However serious it may be, global warming is being used as just another tool to increase taxes on anything and everything which might just be associated with it.
From this should we believe that we now have a giant glass tube around the UK rising to the far reaches of the upper atmosphere and therefore protecting just us from the effects of G.W. What utter garbage, we are just having more and more tax taken out of our pockets to fight other country's wars and allow Gordon Brown to give our hard earned money away to the African Continent and its mass of corrupt leaders - £80billion expected this year? There does not appear to be an end to this man's greed and will to destroy this country, dragging every one into more and more debt, whilst our own Health Service is now on its knees, local taxation spiraling upwards, the scam society seemingly encouraged by government (remember the war time spivs - same cause?).
There is now so much wrong in this country that it will take a magician to sort it out - Brown is a spiv, not a magician.
Just pay up lads and stop moaning, the UK is becoming a war zone in itself.
Colin Outram.
i like petrol. i love to watch the prices go up and down then up again. i check this website 3 times aa day. breakfast, lunch and dinner. i have 50 stations near me and i check the hgihest and lowst prices, then find out the average for the county using my calculatior i got in a cracker
Local supermarkets are now being levelled on price by the oil company stations in my area, which are usually 3-4p per litre more expensive. Is this a sign that supermarkets are not being as competitive as they should be?
nice to see that the fuel prices seem to be slowley falling again :)
In answer to 71 - YES- we are all making a lot of money at the moment - about time too - I can finally feed my family
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This increase will take my local fuel price up to 85.9 for unleaded and 89.9 for diesel yet again we are heading towards 90p a litre.....the oil is back above $60 a barrel if this was to go 60-65 then prices could go up again towards the mid 90's!! Surely no one will vote for Mr Brown at his first attempt to be elected...!! petrol price's should be somehow locked at 80p unleaded and 82p for diesel....will be something to watch over the coming weeks/new year
What I want to know is wher are the bio fules?
without them we have no choise but to pay.
Anyone remember the fuel blockades?
As it's Panto season, all I can say is
"Boo, Hiss"
Seriously, this is clearly just Gordon B clawing back the lost VAT revenue now that the oil price has fallen. As for Paul's comment - around here Diesel is already over 90p, this will take it up to around 92...