09.04.09 It's Your Duty: join the PetrolPrices.com campaign to stop another fuel tax hike

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Do you think fuel tax should go up again in the 2009 Budget?

In response to an overwhelming demand from you, our members, PetrolPrices.com has launched a campaign to get motorists' voices and views on fuel tax heard and to stop another duty rise from being announced in the Budget 2009 on April 22.

We've launched It's Your Duty, and we're supported by the Association of British Drivers, the Freight Transport Association, the Road Haulage Association, Shiply and Gem Motoring Assist. The campaign aims to:

  • Stop a further rise in fuel tax in the Budget 2009 on April 22
  • Make sure fuel tax is spent only on transport
  • Find out exactly what fuel tax is spent on

The Budget is the time that changes to fuel tax are announced – if we can get our voices heard before then we have a real shot at showing the Chancellor that motorists have had enough of high fuel tax and than now, more than ever, fuel tax should be reduced not raised.

All you have to do is write a short letter to your MP asking them to raise these issues in Parliament before the Budget, which you can do via WriteToThem.com.

On 2 separate occasions more than 20,000 PetrolPrices.com members have expressed their anger at previous fuel tax hikes on the PetrolPrices.com blog – instead of leaving a comment on the blog (or even as well as!) we need you to write to your MP to tell them exactly how you feel.

MPs have a duty to respond to the concerns of their constituents, and if 20,000 people write to their MP the Government will have no choice but to take drivers seriously.

To take part in the campaign all you have to do is write an individual, strongly worded and personal letter to your MP. You don't even have to know who your MP is - you can use WriteToThem.com, a not-for-profit website set up to help people find and contact their MP.

We've even put together a list or points you might want to address in your letter – but if the comments on our blog are anything to go by, you probably won't need it!

Show your support and get something done about fuel tax - visit PetrolPrices.com/itsyourduty to find out more.

Help to spread the word by passing this blog link on and by joining the Facebook group
Let us know how you get on - if you've written to your MP leave a comment below (you could even tell us what you said if you like).

Remember - It's Your Duty

Your Comments

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Has anyone noticed that the duty prices for unleaded and diesel are different?

According to the calculator the fuel duty for unleaded is 68.32% but for diesel it is 64.12%. However I am not sure whether this figure includes VAT which is yet another 15% to be added on to the total.

I seem to remember from my schooldays that "petrol" was one of the higher distillates from crude oil and, because of this was the most expensive; Diesel was one of the lower distillates and therefore cheaper.

What has happened

Posted by Jb, 11th April 2009 12:36pm

Has anyone noticed that the duty prices for unleaded and diesel are different?

According to the calculator the fuel duty for unleaded is 68.32% but for diesel it is 64.12%. However I am not sure whether this figure includes VAT which is yet another 15% to be added on to the total.

I seem to remember from my schooldays that "petrol" was one of the higher distillates from crude oil and, because of this was the most expensive; Diesel was one of the lower distillates and therefore cheaper.

What has happened

Posted by Jb, 11th April 2009 12:38pm

SOD THE LOT OF YOU!!!!

I'M GOING TO SQUEEZE YOU TILL THE PIPS SQUEAK

Posted by Gordon Brown, 11th April 2009 12:45pm

There is no doubtin the current and future government policy will be to increase duty as it is viewed as a soft option. By this i mean almost if not all of households own/run a car therefore its an easy target and with an apathetic public unlike our european counter-parts its politically safe to increase this tax. However, the politicians are not taking into account the harm in the real world increases of this nature cause. I am disabled and rely heavily on my car for my independence and more importantly for quality of life. Politicians have used many guises to increase fuel duty not least the ill advised effect on the environment. The continued rise in not just fuel tax, but, all taxes to pay for the fraudulent manner in which bankers and the finacial institutions have behaved will do nothing but harm both disabled people like me and other vulnerable groups such as pensioners and those struggling on benefits. Its all well and good when you are in the position to award yourselves 10% increase as did the politicians, 2.3% on actual income and 6.7% onto their already inflated expenses. Please can I join this gravy train or do i need to be privately educated and and come from an already privelged background?

Posted by Simon Hughes, 11th April 2009 1:33pm

Well I've sent off an email to my MP who, incidentally, usedto n the Environent Minister, protesting at the prposed increase. It's unlikely to do any good, since the Commission, which was set up to measure our failure to control carbon emissions, has to be paid for from somewhere. I expect a reply which tells me how this is a measure to reduce greenhouse gases, when it is clearly noy yjr case. If it were, previous increases in fuel duty would have proved successful. As a country, our emissiom record is poor and it would surely be better for the Government to actually show that it is invester into a proper public reansport infrastructure, such as the likes of Singapore, for instance, has. The only thing that they invest in is non contributory penson schemes, bank bonuses and "golden parachutes", for those that have brought the country to it's knees.
Martin

Posted by Martin Burchill, 11th April 2009 2:24pm

The Duty on Petrol and Diesel is exactly the same @ 54.19p/litre.

With Petrol at 94.50p/litre the Duty+Vat = 66.50p/litre or 70.37%.

With Diesel at 102.30p/litre the Duty+Vat = 67.53p/litre or 66.01%.

Back in the days of "Derv" Diesel was cheaper, but the Sulpher content was 2000ppm. Now it's 10ppm plus the UK's refining capcity for Diesel cannot keep up with demand from Transport and Industry.

This has created a permernant shortage, and refining Diesel has become more expensive. We now import Diesel to keep up. So much for saving the planet, and other such twaddle.

Posted by Learjet, 12th April 2009 5:59am

Much as I would love to help out by writing to my MP I know, from past exerience it would be useless.

I know that this sounds horrible but more than once I have written to my local MP and always got the same answer back. The answer, when finally got from two pages of waffle is basically "No".

When fuel rose to over £1 a litre I wrote to her as a disabled person, believe it or not she wrote back supporting the Government, claiming they were doing everything they could to get the fuel price reduced. That was extremely rich after watching a programme where they said that most of the money on the fuel was taken by the Government in taxes not the fuel companies.

So, in view of the times, more than once, I have written to my local MP and not got any help there is no point in contacting her this time, I know it is a shame and it is time people did something about it but there is no one else to really take her place.

Being disabled, I am totally dependent on my car, and find the continual fuel rises hard to cope with especially as I get under £300 a fortnight. I am meant to do everything with this money, would love to see a Government official live on this!

Posted by Maggie Lane, 12th April 2009 8:57am

IS EVERYBODY BLIND?

The country needs to be taxed to the hilt so that MP Jaqui Smith can claim expenses for two houses and her husband can hire adult films.

I'm pretty sure other MPs have similar skeletons in their cupboards too.

Where do you think the money for these essentials comes from?

Do you think Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling have money trees in their gardens?

Mps live the good life and the rest of us can get stuffed ................ after all, this is a Labour Government. What more do you expect?

Before long there will be a Tax on the Oxygen burnt during combustion in our engines.

Chris

Posted by Chris Worsnup, 12th April 2009 9:44am

PEOPLE OF GREAT BRITAIN !!!!

Following up on my previous sarcastic comment, it is time that this bunch of New Labour crooks were voted onto the Opposition Benches and left to rot there as they did from 1979 unti 1997.

In 1997 we as a nation miguidedly voted them back in, on a "Cloud Cuckoo Land Image" (New Labour) headed up by their biggest PR stunt (Tony Blair), who has since jumped ship.

We have been taught a hard lesson.

This party is only interested in "lining their own pockets".

Never mind all this twaddle about them being "The Party of the Working Man".

Much more of this lot in Government and there won't be any "Working Men"

Chris

Posted by Chris Worsnup, 12th April 2009 10:25am

Yeah the goverment should be done for theft especially those that increase petrol and other taxes so that they can by tax payer funded second homes etc, halve the petrol taxes now, If they had not added the smoking ban in pubs causing 1000's of pubs to close not to mention the 5p a pint tax recently added, then they would not have to add these taxes, they shot themselves in the foot so now they are thieving from somewhere else just like a herion addict trying to fund their habbit. At the rate they are going it will probably be £2 per litre in a year or so. Vote them out next election although I dont know if any other goverment could be any different? Note they are allready robbing us of a further 2p per litre as of 1st april.

Posted by Alan Vale, 12th April 2009 12:12pm

It would seem that even though I am writing to add to your blog Gordon Brown and his so called cabinet of crooks are already hatching a new plot to get every available drop out of the humble motorist.
We need to make a massive protest about any increase in fuel duty or any other rise in prices whilst unemployment rise's to record levels.
IF WE DON'T WE WILL GET RAPED AND PILLAGED BY THIS GOVERMENT YET AGAIN.

When do we have a day of action and protest?

Posted by Mick Whitley, 12th April 2009 3:51pm

hi,

3 days and only 160 comments.

Call this a barrage of statements to post to the PM?

He will be rolling on the floor laughing and being slapped on the back by his aides and fellow ministers.

The unanimous feeling will be what a soft touch the British really are.

Wait until St. Georges day, after the fuel goes up again, and these pages will be flooded with the usual thousands of moans and groans calling for something to be done.

What a bunch of NIMBY's. These people who only complain because they really think someone else will take action for them.

Get off your idle arses and do something!!!

Don't wait for the bloke down the road to write to your local MP, do it yourself.

Only if we join together can we really hope to make a difference.

Sometimes, I sincerely wish we had some French backbone and stood up to our government.

Bloody hell, the French only know how to surrender but they show us a thing or two when it comes to protesting.

The original Steve M.






Posted by Steve M , 12th April 2009 4:31pm

Yes, I pay tax on things I do not want! As a tax payer it goes to the arts, I have never seen a Constable and I don't want to. I do not want the London 2012 Olympics, but my money will go there! The banks should have been taken over at no cost to the tax payer but it was.
My tax pays for school hospitals and the police. So as a tax payer I have no problem with £600 on Tax on my transport cost.

Posted by Keithjones, 12th April 2009 10:20pm

With oil price per barrel no so low why am I pating 102.9 for diesel??????

The goverment must stop rapeing the motorist TODAY

NO MORE TAX ON FUEL

Posted by Bob Barnes, 13th April 2009 8:57am

If speed cameras can burn, so will the petrol stations. The people will get pissed off, the government push us closer to anarchy every day, get that scottish idiot out and put somebody in charge who actually has the people in mind, help the people, then help the economy, it all goes hand in hand.

Posted by Kyle Smith, 13th April 2009 9:35am

I have read alot of posts about getting out on the street, and also previously posted + written to four MP's about the issue.

PLEASE DEAR GOD - If anyone has the talent at mass organisation, please organise a rally.

Tell me the time and place and I will be there - LETS GET THIS GOING IM P*SSED OFF WITH THIS TWO FACED GOVERMENT !

Lets learn from a french protest and block a port !

Posted by John Lawrence, 13th April 2009 11:11am

I have just returned from a trip to Spain where I was paying between 78cents (75p) and 84.5cents (81.25p) for normal diesel (They have a Grade 'A' diesel as well over there which is on average 2-4 cents more).
When I returned to Plymouth I had to pay 1.03p for my diesel.
How do the UK goverment justify us having to pay such a diferencial to our European cousins?
Apparently a few months ago the Spanish goverment put up fuel prices but no where near as much as ours and the lorry drivers threatened action if the prices were not immediately brought down, which the goverment ignored.
So the lorry drivers parked up their vehicles and refused to transport any goods.
Within days shops were running short of goods and factories were running short of materials.
Guess what? the goverment soon brought the prices back down and commerce started flowing again - Why don't we stand up for fair play and do something simular?
This current goverment is bleeding the motorist at every opportunity and it's about time the British public fought back.

Posted by Neill P. Reardon, 13th April 2009 11:56am

If speed cameras can burn, so will the petrol stations. The people will get pissed off, the government push us closer to anarchy every day, get that scottish idiot out and put somebody in charge who actually has the people in mind.

Highly agree with comment 166. Unfortunately the Brits are the softie idiots of the world. Hence the reason why the public is the laughing stock of Westminster!

"Oh Gordon, I want this nice house in Cornwall but it costs £1million".
"I know we'll get the idiots to pay for us by passing some legislation that forces them to without choice".


It won't be long until we face an invasion maybe from North Korea. After all Brits get raped blind and still do nothing!

Posted by Uk A Soft Target, 13th April 2009 3:25pm

I do not support your compaign and cannot understand why you have emailed me and assumed that I do. Broadly speaking I believe that increasing the tax on this scarce and polluting resource is an important and probably essential part of a range of policies designed to encourage changes in our long-term transport choices. While I agree that the present moment is possibly not the best time to be raising any taxes I do agree with the broad sweep of the proposal.

Posted by Joan Davies, 14th April 2009 12:51am

Its about time the gov. did something useful with the revenue. Look at the state of our roads and cycle paths Opps lack of cycle paths.

Posted by Jefferey Waight, 14th April 2009 8:56am

Any further rises are only going to spark off inflation yet again when we are in a credit crunch! Petrol has bee creeping up steadily from the low of 82p in the summer to just under £1-00. BP are one of the main instigators of this as in the Hereford area they are always some 5pence above others. Why to the head themselves as "British"

Posted by Brian Caldicutt, 14th April 2009 9:07am

As usual the Government are penalising the motorists for their shortcomings and it must stop, they are taking the mick. I hope and pray that we have a change of Government and that they are able to put the Great back in Great Britain because quite frankly this Country is going to the dogs......

Posted by Judith Paterson, 14th April 2009 9:46am

Are the government trying to see how far they can push the British motorist before they see us revolt like other countries? In the Phillipines a litre of Derv is 28p, here it is 100.9p where is the fairness in that?
We also pay extremely high Vehicle Excise Duty, now correct me if I am wrong but I always thought that (V.E.D.) was meant to go towards the upkeep of our roads.....
Yet another money spinner for our government's pockets!!

Posted by Paul Johnson, 14th April 2009 11:18am

Why should we the tax payer have to pay extra taxes e.i on fuel to repay the money the goverment has borrowed to bail the banks out, surely they should claim the money back from the banks profits instead of paying big pensions & bonus's out to greedy top dogs who have caused this mess

Posted by Keith Wade, 14th April 2009 11:18am

Why put more tax on fuel the greedy garages are doing it already the average price of petrol 92.5 per litre yet a barrel is down to $50 and according to the press an over supply how long are the stupid public in this country going to stand for this.

Posted by Nicky, 14th April 2009 4:12pm

Does the Government not know there is a recession on and people on low incomes are going without! No more tax rises on petrol/diesel please.

Posted by Bernie Wilson, 14th April 2009 4:59pm

Re: 168

Well said.

What I don't inderstand is why no withering blast of criticism from other posters?
I am quite jealous, in the past when I have posted stuff like that the response was instant, and often quite impolite.
Perhaps the 'Cheap energy forever' brigade are on their hols?

Posted by Greg Brown, 15th April 2009 12:53am

one understands this government needs to raise extra funding to pay for the state they have got us into and increasing fuel duty will raise prices of everything however why should we?
As an alternative think of your fellow man, cut down on greedy second home expenses reduce costs on fighting other peoples wars abroad andkeep the status quo

Posted by Ken Jones, 15th April 2009 10:20am

I'm a pensioner on a very restricted and small income, I have difficulty in walking even short distances at the present time and have to use my car to go anywhere - this increase in petrol prices which we have just endured is really a step too far. When the cost went up last time it was because of the oil prices (or so they said) with this having come down so considerably over the last few months why is the cost not coming down instead of going up. I know that Gordon Brown has put the tax up which is just an iniquity, but the petrol companies have a lot to answer for as well. We are being held to ransom all round.

Posted by Marjorie Smallcorn, 15th April 2009 12:55pm

This dictatorship is guilty of felonius c0cksuc4ing and attempting to swallow the evidence.

Sentence: to hang on the gallows

Posted by Brown Sux, 15th April 2009 2:19pm

This jury of 10 million motorists unanimously finds this dictatorship guilty of felonius c0cksuc4ing and attempting to swallow the evidence.

Sentence: Fed petrol on a veinous drip for the number of hours equating the number of pence duty added to a litre.

Posted by Drink Your Overpriced Petrol, 15th April 2009 2:30pm

how can transport be improved in the UK?
>we should be allowed to use our mechanisms to work and indeed our in our luxury
>time . as tax payers it should be us that chose our method of transport... if
>that means driving a 3.5 liter or a ford KA to the shops, then so be it... we
>pay taxes against everything. the government dont want us out of our cars, as
>it is not sustainable for them, with loss of revenue - god, they dont have
>tobacco tax to fall on nowadays.
>So what they do, is entertain the 'greens' and play us off... perfect excuse
>to tax us more.
>
>there are alternative fuels. lets not get distracted by the
>petrol/green/environment debate which they love.... our cars can be ran on
>alternative fuels. but whilst greed, the requirements to have to drive and
>playing us off against the greens is entertained - we are cannon fodder.
>
>Alternative fuels are the only way forward... legistlation willsee heavy tax
>eventually, but lets not play in to thier hand.
>
>public transport should be optional

Posted by Ant, 15th April 2009 5:03pm

Re: 181

Yes, that is the way forward. Cornucopia motoring UK forever!

Posted by Greg Brown, 15th April 2009 5:31pm

I agree with the gentleman at number 75. The 2p price hike went on and then lo and behold the easter weekend arrives and it goes up another 1p!!! It will soon go back up to over £1 a litre.

Posted by Carolstephenson, 16th April 2009 7:06am

It's about time successive governments stopped treating motorists as an unending source of revenue. All motorists should make their voice heard the government must realize that we make up a large part of the voting population.
They should also be capping the rises in fuel prices by the large multinationals who keep making obcene profits, especially now during this recession.

Posted by W.m.mcneill, 16th April 2009 11:49am

Why do petrol prices go up?

The the same reason why police smash Brits at G20 but nothing to illegal immigrant Folkestone fence jumpers.

Posted by Uk Anti-ss Gestap0 , 16th April 2009 1:54pm

Please spare us any more price rises, our human rights are being effeted, as we can not pay the price for fuel, to have some sort of quality of life.

Posted by Lorraine Lewis, 16th April 2009 4:36pm

I just got back from Gibraltar, which has a 1:1 exchange rate with Pounds Sterling (you can use sterling or Gibraltar pounds there as a result).

The price of petrol there was 63.5p!

Posted by Colin Smith, 16th April 2009 4:55pm

re 182 Greg Brown.

Welcome back.

Just a minute of your time and one or two queries, as you agree with heavier taxation regarding fossil fuels. Taxing the hell out of tobacco is no longer an option as too many have given up the habit.

Can you tell me how adding more and more tax to the petrol/diesel driven engines in our transport systems (trains, lorries, buses, cars) will help reduce the carbon impact on the environment?

When it has already been stated by our own ex Prime Minister that even if we stopped using fossil fuel in this country, the impact would be dwarfed within two years by the sheer amount of oil to be used by China and Asia.

Why should we (UK) be taxed so heavily just to supplement a lower fuel usage that other countries largely ignore.

Using the 'green issue' as an excuse to milk the population for money to clear debts caused by their own mismanagement is literally taking the pi$$.

Whoever wins the next election will have years of work trying to sort out the mess.

My question is, when an alternative fuel source is in mass production and usage, will they the tax the hell out of that instead and will your response be the same?

Reference to cornucopia motoring forever. Are you taking the bull by the horns? ;-]

Posted by Steve M, 16th April 2009 6:08pm

I see the French are at it again,

They blockade the ports, creating havoc on the roads both sides of the channel, I bet the French Government will give in, (if they haven't already).

Those Lorry drivers currently trapped on the M20 should abandon their vehicles (taking their keys with them) returning to their vehicles only when those A55H0LE5 Brown and Darling start to listen to "Joe Public).

Having the M20 blocked for a week or so might do it.

Getting one's point across is like reverting to using Algebra (lol)

Posted by Chris, 16th April 2009 6:56pm

I would like to see more motoring organisations joining in this campaign. The AA and the RAC are supposed to represent their members, so perhaps the members can assist in making this happen. There is also the Car and Van Rental Companies which must account for over 100,000 vehicles on the roads of the UK, their contribution would be a significant impact.

Posted by Mathew, 16th April 2009 7:35pm

At this particular time, when everybody is suffering with the recession, you would think that our government would be trying to help but once again they are using the motorist as a soft target. They have made some idiotic decisions over the last few months, especially the VAT mess, and spent billions of taxpayers money on stupid things that have helped no-one. I really wish somebody up there would do something for the majority instead of alway helping the least deserving.

Posted by Tracey, 17th April 2009 4:21pm

I have sent a mail to my MP as a result of the Petrol Prices mail. I am apalled that they can act in this way, but you have only got to look at the state of the current financial market to see how well the government are performing. I have been checking my vehicles (more than 1) tyre presurres etc and following tips on this and other web sites about being more frugal, optimum speed etc., and have found real savings in mpg. Meanwhile ton up merchants are still out there so some people have more money than sense!

Posted by Denis R.preston, 18th April 2009 5:20pm

New Government Seal

Official Announcement:
The British Government today announced that it is changing its emblem from Britannia to a CONDOM because it more accurately reflects the Government's political stance.

A condom allows for inflation, halts production, destroys the next generation, protects a bunch of pr1ck5, and gives you a sense of security while you're actually being screwed!

Damn, it just doesn't get more accurate than that.

Posted by Buy Me And Stop One, 19th April 2009 1:44am

"Global warming" is the biggest global con trick ever successfully launched. Carbon is the element on which all life is based, and carbon dioxide is the plant food without which there would be no sugars and no life on earth as we know it. Carbon dioxide is *not* a "pollutant": it is plant food. Carbon dioxide is the ultimate "green" compound.
A huge leech industry has been created from the scientifically illiterate notion that driving Bentleys will cook our grandchildren. It is therefore not surprising that the notion is being abused by politicians to create new tax streams to support increasingly intrusive "big government".
Whilst there is some sense in seeking to reduce dependence on unstable foreign regimes for our energy supplies, that is no excuse for perpetuating spurious goobledegook and - worst of all - indoctrinating a whole generation of schoolchildren with this nonsense.
Carbon dioxide is green. That is the most important point to make when writing to MPs. Few of them have enough background knowledge of hard science to challenge the "big lie" about the centrality of carbon in living systems, but many of them have the intelligence to mug it up if pressed hard enough by voters.

Posted by Roger, 19th April 2009 10:59am

And so the Brits got on a plane to Canada/US/Oz/New Zealand.
Threw away their YUCK-UK passports.
Pretended they never spoke English.
Maked "gun bang" noises pointing fingers at head, cried in immigration in port of arrival.
And lived happly ever after!
Living in a properly sized/priced/taxed house.
Driving a car with a proper engine.

Posted by Exodus Starts Now, 19th April 2009 1:39pm

Surely another fuel tax increase is out of the question at this time, on the basis public transport is overpriced and if you wish to visit family a journey of 60 miles is going to take all day by public transport expecially if changes are involved in the journey. At the same time this is only going to increase the cost of food and for unemployment persons yet another problem.
As for electric cars with initial costs more than double for a petrol or diesel cars and some eight hours to re charge same this is surely a non starter. At the same time the electricity has to be generated and will increase CO 2 gases. A disillusioned pensioner.

Posted by Paul Marks, 19th April 2009 8:32pm

Where does our "TAX" go ??? certainly not to repair or provide suiatbly surfaced roads or any systems!...they all seem to full of potholes, badly marked and maintained ..perhaps causing more accidents ?... ayz16t

Posted by Norman Woodfin , 19th April 2009 8:44pm

I loathe all politicians because they are all liars. I also hope that they get their come-uppance in our lifetime. It is time this country started standing up in what they really believe in.

I suggest that we do not buy a single litre of petrol for a week and see how the treasury would like it.

Posted by Joe, 20th April 2009 11:17am

198 "Joe"

I agree with you 100% the problem is WE the voting public put these idiots into government and now we can't get them out because Gordon Brown is too scared to go to the country. He knows that come the next election he and his "New Labour" cronies will be banished to the politcal wasteland.

Posted by Chris, 20th April 2009 12:14pm

I find the price of fuel a real burden, especially the cost of LPG for my heating and domestic hot water boiler (natural gas not available and cleaner than oil). The cost of motoring means that now I'm retired I restrict my journeys to one a week. However, I don't think the tax should come down. I'm all for green taxes, provided the money is ploughed back into producing green energy or to save energy by subsidising energy saving in people's homes. I think motoring costs could be reduced, by taxing the oil giants and putting a limit on what they are allowed to charge the consumer. As well as employing some of the poorest people in the world on starvation wages and polluting their countries they pay their British, European and American bosses and board members disgustingly high salaries and bonuses. That is where the cuts should be.

Posted by Sylvia Weeks, 20th April 2009 5:29pm

I wrote to my MP Jim Paice (Conservative South East Cambridgeshire) ten days ago and he hasn't bothered to reply - so there you have it democracy in action!

Posted by Paul Hawkins, 20th April 2009 9:27pm

Well my local #esso is at 100.09 now for unleaded back over the pound mark its about time something happend

Posted by Dazz22, 20th April 2009 10:07pm

Post #10 - you are spot on! Crude last June/July was $150/barrel and the forecourt was charging £1.34-1.36 tops. Crude is now $47/barrel and some garages are still charging anywhere between £1.03 & £1.06/litre for diesel, which incidentally is the cheaper of the two to manufacturer, Uh, something doesn't ring right here folks! The long and short of it is that we are being fleeced by this government and the oil barons and being true to Bristish form we do diddly squat other than take it on the chin. It is one MASSIVE scam...

Posted by Richard Battey, 21st April 2009 8:30am

If Public Transport wasn't so poor and expensive more people would use it ~ I work just 16 miles from home and it would take 3 buses and a train journey to get there ! I work on a 'new' business park 'out in the sticks' and just off the motorway where the majority of people have no choice but to use their cars to get to work ~ was that 'Good Clean Green Planning' with no decent public transport system to support it ! So penalise the motorist again who have no choice but to use their cars to get to work to earn the money to pay tax on ! Janie

Posted by Jane Stanford, 21st April 2009 11:13am

In reply to the question, what happens to the money from fuel duty and taxes, the local Labour MP's reply was. Money paid on duty and taxes goes in to the general tax fund and Goverment uses this from anything between road schemes to policing, NHS, eduction etc. If this is the case then it's reassuring to know, that if ther is ever a protest rally, our fuel duty has paid for the road we march on, the police, who will try to stop the protest by any means they can and the hospitals to patch up the injures inflicted by the police. Hopefully the duty will also pay for the General Election so we can finally get rid of this goverment that has lost touch with the British People.

Posted by Don Kirk, 21st April 2009 1:01pm

RE. 201, I wrote to my MP, Dan Norris (New Labour) and guess what, no reply. What a waste of space and money.

Posted by John, 21st April 2009 1:43pm

hi,

re 194 Roger. Spot on.

I think most people now realise we are being hoodwinked by our (G Brown, elected?) leaders.

Even recently on BBC4, a programme showing the adverse effects on the worlds weather is largely due to the jet stream(s).

Only a small passing remark was made to global warming due to human input.

The jet stream is a fairly 'new' phenomenon which is only now being faintly understood. It was shown how different positions of the 'stream' have major influences on the type of winter or summer we have in this country. As it is now closer to circling the more northern hemisphere it is dragging warmer air northwards causing a '''slight''' short term increase in temperature.

Global warming out of control? NO.

PEOPLE... stand up and be counted or just keep paying the taxes with the lame excuse "its for the good of the climate"

Its up to YOU!!

Posted by Steve M , 21st April 2009 1:44pm

Another fuel hike wouldn't surprise me to be honest, as said by many already, it's us, joe public, who get hammered by the government when they want extra money for something they don't need, for example, politicians in parliament are trying to get an allowance for a SECOND home!!! When many of us can barely afford 1 home!! It's a disgrace!
Another point i want to make is, i recall several months ago about a "survey" being done, to find out how much, people in the uk, are willing to pay for fuel, per litre, before they really do something about it, and the result was that the "majority" were willing to pay up to "£1.50 a litre" before anything serious was done. Now call me paranoid, but i believe the government are taking full advantage of this so called "survey" and will put the price up whenever it suits them, or whenever they want new makeover in their homes!

Posted by Stephen Millar, 21st April 2009 2:52pm

We can complain about "GLOBAL WARMING" .... "GREEN TAXES" ad infinitum, but me personally ............ I despise this bunch of crooks we refer to as our Elected Government and our NON-ELECTED Prime Minister.

We as a Nation should demand a General Election and send this bunch of clowns to the Opposition Benches for good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They try to fool us into thinking they are the "Party of the Working Class" ...... "What a load of B0LL0CKS" (excuse my french ladies).

Posted by Chris, 21st April 2009 3:20pm

This labour government are nothing but a bunch of robbing B******s led by a F*****g idiot who will never win the next election. Fuel duty should be halfed to help the road haulage industry as well as the average motorist.
Remember, Richard Turpin wore a Mask when he robbed people.

Posted by Leigh Hood, 21st April 2009 9:27pm

re 207
Steve,
BBC is the worst offender in promoting the "cars are cooking your
grandchildren and it's all your fault" blame game. The big question is how
to get the truth through to the generality of people against the incessant
propaganda.

Have you noticed how guys like Prof David Bellamy, who does not subscribe
to the "anthropogenic causes of climate change" garbage no longer appears
on television? A few - very few - phone-in contributors have managed to
get through to (eg) Any Answers, but there has been no real debate of the
fundamental issues. The policy appears to be to promote the view that "the
debate is over: it's a fact".

There are elections in June for EU and county councils. How many of our
view will actually stand for local elections? That would be a start in
reversing the trend. Having spent 20 years as a local councillor, I have
done a fair bit of bucking political trends, and county councils are
probably not the ideal place to start, as they are dominated by party
hacks, but one has to begin somewhere.

Any takers?

Roger

Posted by Roger, 22nd April 2009 1:22pm

Whats is the point in having a campaign ? We do not live in a Democracy and this Government and future Governments will simply do what they want to do. That is
the way things are in the United Kingdom.

Its time we stopped pretending that we live in such a perfect Democracy and to start to realise to no one is going to say and no one can do anything about what
a limited number of people in the United Kingdom do.


Posted by Tony Barretto, 22nd April 2009 8:24pm

@ 155. Learjet is awesome; an oasis of information and reason in a sea of shortsighted rabble-rousing. You sir, kick a55.

Posted by Chelsea T. Mckensington, 23rd April 2009 1:48pm

#213

Yes, looks like a few 'sensible' posts appearing - a few on the current blog too.

Picking a post at random, #161 is a good example of the problem. Shout at everyone, but what is the poster actually doing? Nothing that he advocates I assume! Perhaps he needs to realise that we do have a democratic process in this country and even if there are over 10,000 posts on some of these blogs they represent only a tiny minority of motorists let alone the total population. So much hot air!

Lastly, why the obsession with calling Gordon Brown "unelected"? He was elected - as the MP for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath. We don't elect Prime Ministers in the UK.

No, I'm not a supporter of the Government - but I do advocate reason and sense over ranting and misinformation.
Brian

Posted by Brian Paskin, 23rd April 2009 4:42pm

Sorry Brian #214 I disagree,

There's a lot of ill feeling towards this government and a lot of people are using this forum as a sounding board.

I just read in the other blog (two running concurrently is not a good idea BTW), one poster showing favour to the BNP. I personally would rather emigrate than have a bunch of Fascists in government.

Let's be honest this government has failed us badly so much so that the media take every opportunity to expose their selfish hypocrisies, MP's misusing their expenses is a prime example.

This recession is the result of the collapse on an unregulated banking system.

It's disgusting to see "Fat Cat" banking CEO's having failed abysmally, fill their pockets with huge payoffs (before departing), from taxpayers money, donated by this government.

Up jump Brown and Darling with harebrained schemes to buy us out of the recession, pushing the country into crippling debt for decades while the rest of the EU look on in stunned disbelief at these policies.

WHO PAYS FOR ALL THIS? We the taxpayers.

Posted by Chris, 23rd April 2009 9:11pm

OK Chris #215 - you disagree - but I'm not sure what with? I would agree with your points in general - particularly the antipathy to the BNP and the poor handling (of almost everything) by the current administration. The concerns about MP's expenses and bank CEO's payoffs are merely tabloid fodder designed to 'rabble rouse' in a slightly more sophisiticated way than the rants mentioned in this blog. The amounts of money involved are so small in the scheme of things as to make no difference to the recession. They do however 'stick in the throat' and are unacceptable morally and ethically.

I wouldn't totally agree that "This recession is the result of the collapse on an unregulated banking system" as there are many facets to the problems we face - some undoubted caused by unwise banking practices but by no means all.

Yes, taxpayers pay - who else can? Governments don't create wealth - individuals and companies (i.e. taxpayers) do. As crazy as it may sound, we have democratically elected our Government and therefore given them a mandate to act for us and raise money accordingly. If we now think that we have made a mistake (most seem to!) then we will have the opportunity rectify that mistake by May 2010 at the latest. Cue debate about how the rest are as bad etc. etc..........
Brian

Posted by Brian Paskin, 24th April 2009 5:41pm

Brian #216,

Sorry it takes a while to respond I'm in Brazil at the moment.

Your response is reasoned and well presented, (you'd be great in a debating society).

If my memory serves me correctly the slide into total recession began with the collapse of the Lehman Bank in the USA.

I remember watching the CEO squirm in front of a Senate Commitee as he tried to justify his obscene annual salary for 2007/2008 ($250,000,000) even though he knew in January of 08 that the bank was in dire trouble.

Fat Cats that behave in this manner should be looking at the world from behind bars in my opinion, including the ex CEO of RBS.

As for the inevitable demise of this government next May, sadly David Cameron is going to have to make the country swallow an awful dose of medicine to sort this mess out. I just hope Joe Public accepts and remembers the reasons for it.

Opening myself up for a tirade of abuse I personally cannot wait for the Tories to get back in. Under Thatcher if you put the effort in you got the benefits out. Socialism is and always has been a recipe for abuse of the welfare state.

Chris

Posted by Chris, 25th April 2009 1:19pm

I realize my last post is totally of the point put it's nice to be able to "Air ones opinion" in a public forum.

Chris

Posted by Chris, 25th April 2009 1:23pm

Re #214...#218
Not really off the point, Chris (#217/8); the point is that high taxation is one product of a mind-set that regards it as inapproriate for people to be allowed to make financial decisions for themselves, presumably because we are regarded by politicians as incapable of managing our affairs "responsibly" (whatever that means). Tax on fuel is one element of this mind-set, currently fashionable because it is a new tax stream, created on bandwaggon of "anthropogenic causes of climate change" (ACCC), attractive because direct taxes became (and remain) unpopular in the 1970s, whereas ACCC has created a moral justification as a stick to beat critics.

To my tiny mind, two posits are now required: first and more immediately a concerted refutation of the ACCC gobbledegook; second an emerging consensus that taxation is theft.

Mr Blair (remember him?) succeeded in disassociating the notion of "support for public services" (good) from "big government and high taxation" (bad), so establishing the notion that you can have one without the other (disinformation, alias "spin"). Not only has the Blair spin allowed in the Labour Party to revert to its old habits, but it has also spawned a much more sinister "control" ethic, espousing central databases, networks of statutory informers demanding "ID" on a variety of entirely spurious excuses and an emerging mind-control culture, exercised through contractual obligations created at every interface between a burgeoning public sector and the hard-pressed businesses that provide services to it. This network of controls is perhaps more subtle than the former KGB control of the old Soviet system, but it has become almost as perfusive.

Indications from Mr Cameron, so far, are not encouraging. Not only has he failed to cut through the congealing soup of disinformation, but he has hmself jumped on the bandwaggon of ACCC. He will, of course, have his honeymoon, during which he will be able to get away with almost anything. What worries me is that has created very little "clear blue water"; instead, he appears to have fallen into the error, characteristic of the Tory party during the dreary 1950s and '60s, of trying to out-socialise the Socialists. The real political issue seems to me to be that elevation of "public services" to unassailable status is much the same as saying that people cannot be trusted to spend their own earnings, so it is incumbent on the State to take as much as possible of that burden away from them.

As long as that issue remains obfuscated, the primary focus for government must be to raise ever-increasing revenue and find ever more targets for spending it. Concomitantly, because taxation is unpopular, new excuses must be invented to justify ever-higher taxes; hence, the "moral" justification for "green" taxes.

I am not sure that this helps much, but I come back to the point I floated in #211. The ACCC bandwaggon has been developed by a "bottom up" approach. It needs a similar approach to derail it. Local government elections are not the only places to start, but there is not much point in my throwing out other suggestions without some indication that the seed is falling on fertile ground.

Roger

Posted by Roger, 27th April 2009 1:27pm

I wrote to my MP immediately as soon as I saw the alert email from petrolprices.com, using the supplied link through to the 'Write to Them'
site. I wrote a fairly considered and balanced letter which focussed on a particular gripe I have, in that I run an older diesel car - purchased with economy, not so much performance in mind - only to be hit by the comparatively
recently introduced cynical differential that now makes diesel more
expensive at the pumps than unleaded. As many will know, historically,
diesel has always been 'favoured', presumably to encourage use of more economic vehicles. I believe this is unique in Europe?
I received a reply after just over a week but wonder if the Party Machine had beaten me (and fellow petrolpricers) to it. It smacked of being an
absolutely 'stock' response, dealt only with widely raised general points re. fuel duties, and paid NO HEED WHATEVER to the specific point I had raised re. the diesel pump price differential.
My MP is a Government Whip. Enough said??!! Have other campaigners also met with a stock response?

Posted by Chris G., 1st May 2009 11:08am

Chris,
It is absolutely standard, when writing to ministers, civil servants or whips, that it takes three letters to get anything other than a "stock" answer, stright off the wordprocessor.
Roger

Posted by Roger, 1st May 2009 8:41pm

Talking to Politicians is a complete waste of time !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Try watching one being interviewed on TV .................. whenever a direct question about a delicate subject is asked just watch how evasive they are.

Gordon Brown is a past master at the art of deception .................... he would have made a GREAT tennis player because whenever the ball comes near him, he always manages to knock it away from himself.

Posted by Chris W, 2nd May 2009 5:17pm

As a owner of a diesel car that gets reduced rate of road tax because diesel is a cleaner fuel, I cannot understand why we pay more for diesel. Surely the government should encourage the use of diesel on our roads if its more environmentally friendly by reducing the tax, which should then have a knock on effect with cost on deliverying food to our shops

Anyway I think we need to be like France and stand up for ourselves

Posted by Andrew Panrucker, 15th May 2009 1:52pm

I just re-read article 219 from Roger. That first paragraph really kicks us in the teeth in view of the current fiasco in Westminster.

Quote "we are regarded by politicians as incapable of managing our affairs responsibly" Unquote.

I am left with this question ................. is there any point writing to any MP?

All they seem to be interested in is lining their own pockets, paying off non-existant mortgages, feeding their dogs, hiring porno films, digging moats, buying bookcases, fixing their swimming pools, ad infinitum ............ and guess who's taxes are paying for it?

Why does the Government set up organizations to catch benefit thieves when they need look no further than the Palace of Westminster?

Posted by Chris, 16th May 2009 9:43am
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