Your Comments

Great!!, lets hope the government will sit up & listen. The petrol prices are a rip off.

We rely on our vehicle to get to and from work, where hubby works there is no public transport and when he gets home from work we have tea then I go to work, without the van I wouldn't be able to get to work on time unless I didn't have anything to eat, not a good idea, plus I have a scoliosis which means I am in constant pain so having to walk to work would cripple me. As for the price of petrol well it means that we all will have to tighten our belt at Christmas and we cant enjoy days out like we used to as we can't afford the petrol to do so any more.

I usually drive about 600 to 800 miles a month for my job. I do get this reimbursed, but I have to pay out first and the amount reimbursed hasn't been increased for about 2 years. I'm not a high earner and I am now having problems with making ends meet.

Fine! So I work in excess of 50 hours a week, but cant have a nice car that I like because I have to think about the tax I am paying not for the extra polloution that may be caused (in fact a modern 2.5ltr petrol produces less pollution than and old 1.2ltr petrol car) but to subsidies the governments next pay rise or the £1000 bar bill that has been raised in the commons that week.
Have 2,5 ltr cars been banned then Colin in my earlier post I said put it all on the petrol and do away with tax so you pay as you go seems the fairest way?

I think the government are just getting more and more greedy. and lining there
own pocket! The Americans moaned about a couple of cents hike and there was uproar! but that still made there prices a third or less of ours, why??
we are supposed to be in the e.u All prices should be similar....There should be
a stand made in this country! but there won't be because we are soft!!!

Fuel Duty, RoadTax..etc. Is there a site which shows what this money is actually spent on.
Last week I came across across two people who work in government (Civil Servant) & (NHS). Both have a card (they apply for), which gives them huge discounts off car prices and discounts off fuel from certain garages.
NB. These cars are private and not used for work...(one car was bought for the daughter who uses "mummy (the card)" to fill her tank up).
I am digging for more substantial evidence, anyone else heard of this?
Now where is all this Tax going? The "Government Elite" again I reckon.
Is this perk taxed? I do not think so!
Get those petrol prices Down Brown and were you really voted in democratically anyway?

I thought today that if there was a protest I would join it. I am absolutely fed up with us just acceptinhg everything the government dole out. My husband lost his pension and the government agencies said they wouldn't like to comment, no one will take any responsbility for anything. This hike in fuel is just another tax, knowing that we will eventually just give in. Well we shouldn't. Write to yout MP's ,lobby them. Let them see that we won't take this lying down.

soft!!! David or self centred? unity is power and thats something the Britsh dont have?

At last, its been a long time coming, so it might affects us all a bit, but not as much as the price of petrol is now!!!

Good luck to the protesters, its just a shame the bigger organisations like the RAC, AA, RHA, FTA (who allegedly are the voice of the motorist, hauliers etc) didn't have the balls the protesters have!!

Go guys go!!

motorists must stop being selfish , thinking the planet exists for them . Grow up Of course fuel prices will rise ..petrol is not a renewable energy Start changing yor habits How many car trundle back and forth along the ever increasing motorways with only one passenger each day ? Find something unselfish to protest about!...there's a lot of choice.

Fantastic news, and high time. I was more than happy to offer support at the Kingsbury depot 7 years ago, and I'm delighted to see democracy in action once again. Bring it on!

Guys, i too think its about time we make a stance!! bring on the blockades!!

i have a bmw 325 and i have recently been forced to buy a small peugeot 106 diesel as the fuel prices are stupid!
far from making me stop using my car, thus less cars on the road, i have increased my carbon foot print and im afraid to say, if the government doesnt wanna play fair with us, then we gotta stand up for our rights to pay a fair price for fuel!!

its funny how americans would not even concider driving a 2litre car on their highways and instead opt for 5litre chevy's, but little ENGLAND is trying to change the global warming situation!!
im sooo peed off! BRING ON THE PROTESTS!

Luigi Presti (bristol)

I think petrol prices represent tremendous value at the moment.

£1.10 a litre to keep that grin on Gordon Browns beautiful face!!!

Colin thanks for your response I agree I am a Sustainable Development Manager so yes im a greenie by trade but I still drive I have an old 1.2 clio and my wife drives our brand new 1.8 Focus what strikes me is I pay more tax for the focus which pollutes less than the clapped out old Clio!! Its senseless from a green point of view I would say use the 2.5 ltr but pick your mates up on the way to work and split the cost there are too many cars with single occupants which again shows how self centred we have become those who care share dont you think Colin?

Yep, we put up and shut up for too long, our fuel prices have gone beyond ridiculous as we, the motorist are kicked and squeezed to get more money out of. We need to show Downing Street that we will not be taken for mugs any longer, I am in support of any fuel protest.

Incidentally, does anyone know if it's true that United States airbases here in the UK sell fuel to their soldiers and crew at the US prices, I had heard that they do this but not found out for sure - if they do it is grossly unfair don't you think ?

I have read many of the comments, and also suffer from the high prices which compare poorly with my ability to pay for fuel 40 years ago as a student. However we (a money based lot) need hikes to nudge us to necessary adaptations. How many heavy footed drivers do you hear, ignorant or careless of the fuel (our fuel) they are needlessly spilling into the atmosphere? You know, the Real Skilled Guys; not.
I reckon its time to combine pricing with ...YES...find another word if you like, but...rationing, and with the Fuel Card to handle the admin of variable price rates..hiking as you use more than expected. Link insurance etc rates to FUEL USED instead of miles or the utterly stupid way we 'tax' now.
VED at moment is effectively a down payment on your fuel costs for the year ahead! Higher VED encourages more fuel purchasing!
Do you want (say) heavy 4X4's to be encouraged to get their VED 'monies worth' by driving a lot? Hell no! Yet that's what Gordon's VED ideas do...don't they?
A 4X4 on the driveway is NO Problem; just minimise its fuel burning = road use.... !!
Enough.

Tax on fuel always goes upand never comes down when the price of oil comes down or when the economy is doing well.The price rises affect everyone in the UK,so it is about time the whole of Britain protested to the government full scale so that they will not take the easy option to raise money for the exchequer.I fully support the protests and I hope that this will make all labour party MP's sit up and think about what might happen at the next general election.

I am a small builder living in a rural aria I have had to change my van for a more economical one 18 month's ago due to fuel prices now I am back to square one as the new van wich is far better on fuel is costing more to run than the old one
I think the government is taking the p*** out of all of us and another fuel protest is the way forward (but they wont take any notice)
they will keep doing the same thing waving the green flag and try to make us all feel guilty for going out to work and pay for them to live in the type of luxury most of us can only dream of
the only way we are going to make this lot listen is to stop working and see how fast this contry grinds to a hault , eventualy we will all be put out of work due to the short sighted pepole in westminster .
ps if you know of a bus company that will pick me up from my local builders merchant and dorp me off at my custmors address with 20 sheets of plaster board and ten bags of plaster I will use public transport and sell the van

need to drive to work as a nurse and with the unsocial hours we work. public transport is not an option for me so the price of petrol goes up but as yet this year our pay rise which we were due in april has not been implemented so how do we pay for this petrol increase!!!

Why is it that fuel is that crude oil is around $100 a barrel yet the price in USA is around $3 a gallon and here it is almost £5 a gallon. That works out at around $10 a gallon!! Oh and also the US gallon is larger than UK gallon. Must be the Thieves at the treasury again!! Oops did I say that?

Yes Jon I agree, people should share journeys, were possible, but for me personnally, I live 25 miles from my place of work, somedays I start at 7.00am some days I start at 8.00am somedays I finish at 5.00pm somedays I finish at 9.00pm, I dont know anyone who is this flexible that works and lives in the same areas I do.
I would use public transport and have done an a few occassions, but it has meant me being up at 4am to catch 3 busses and 3 different trains and in turn costing me more just to be at work for 8am. and then doing the retrun trip leaving work at 5pm and not arriving home until 9pm.

When possible I walk to the shops to save money on fuel and of course the economy.

I often see busses that are half empty following each other down the same route, pumping out disgusting amounts of fumes, where is the sense in that?

Something that may not have been said in the last 3321 posts (stirred up some sentiment here !) is about local price fixing. This website shows the variation in price around the country, I was always told it was to do with transportation costs but I think that is rubbish. Everyone will try to maximise their profits (as Shell has just shown). I have specifically been concerned about LPG price variations. LPG tracks the price of petrol for no other reason than the suppliers can get away with it. LPG is essentially a waste by- product of petrol production if we don't use it they will burn it off as flares. The variation in price of LPG across the UK is huge, over 25%. Someone is taking the.... No local competition, another reason we have to be the ones to drive the price down.

In FRANCE they wont stand for it, i checked some receipts the other day, 2 years ago i was paying 86p a litre, now i'm paying 105.9, bloody rediculous. im a self employed carpenter trying to run a business, but it seems i am earning less and less after STEALTH taxes.

There are some people still in this country who knows how to protest and I salute to them. Price is too much and is going up and up again and no one is doing anything about it. Mr Brown need to cut down the tax urgently before the economy damages completely like he made the banking industry. I have full support with the protesters.

Paul, I see your point, but just cause you charge more for the fuel does not mean people will use it less. People need to use there cars, trucks, vans, bikes etc.

Why is it that we pay so much more than the rest of the world when the price is the same to every country. The government is using the fuel as a way to tax the earning person, not to help save the world or the "Peak Oil" problem!!

petrol prices are up, they will stay up since global demand now outstrips supply. this is due to us hitting the point of peak oil production, peak oil is a flow problem where the rate of oil that can be processed is no longer high enough to match the global demand due to a dwindling supply of easy to extract and process light crude. before you go protesting about petrol prices try to do some reading in advance. google for the term peak oil - read all you can. then google for "albert bartlet energy and population" and read / listen to the whole thing about exponential population growth in the face of finite resources. if you still cannot see the bigger picture then go ahead with your protests and get ready to protest about the amazing price hikes in food (yes this is oil / gas related too) and all the other hardships you are about to experience due to this very simple concept.

We should do what the French do, bring the country to a stand still, park our cars so to block every road in the uk. Perhaps then the government may take notice

Perhaps as a follow on to this protest another could be arranged that ensured people simply did not go to work unless they could do so on public transport. This would kill two birds with one stone highlighting just how inadequate public transport is for one.

The resumption of tax hikes under the heading of a "green Tax"must have made Mr. Brown fall to his knees and thank God he could he could rip us off some more.How thick does he think we all are that we can be fooled all of the time and how transparent to cover some types of protest underhis anti-terorism act.Looks like a re-run of the miners dispute,U.K.police against U.K. citizens.Would this happen so readily in the Republic across the channel,I think not!

You are not comparing like with like though.

Other countries may pay less for fuel at the pump but pay more for their car travel via other taxes and levies.

The UK government can't be held responsible for the global price of fuel or Arab states forcing prices up!

Nevertheless I would prefer tax duties to be replaced by green taxes and for motorists to be charged by how green there car and travel is.

Perhaps if you government hating Tories emigrated abroad our roads will become less congested :)

Comment about price of fuel and the level that the pound is at is so true. Dollar currently around $2 to £1 so oil costing approx £50 a barrel. Someone must be making on the currency transactions. Research has been done which suggests litre would have to cost upwards of £1.83 to make a real difference to car usage. Does this mean that we just have to grin and bear it and hope that public transport improves? Just know that even in the central belt of Scotland (outside Glasgow/Edinburgh) - it isn't brilliant if you want to go a distance. How long before people start leaving jobs and ending up on benefits costing the government even more? Enough is enough - put a stop to the duty or make it VAT free!

This governmemt is bringing the country to it's knees, these fuel increases are doing no good at all as it affects the poor and needy, because of price increases in food, fuel & utilities are some of the things affected. Those on fixed incomes ie: pensioners are just going under where is the money coming from for them to live decent lives, not from Mr Darling that's for sure.
Also industry is affected and those who drive for a living, why we are taxed so high is beyond me because the money is certainly not going towards better roads.
WE MUST STAND TOGETHER AND GET SOMETHING DONE.

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Perhaps if you government hating Tories emigrated abroad our roads will become less congested :)
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I have no fixed alegence to any government as long as the one that is in power is thinking of what is best for the country. At the moment labour are not doing this. I am not saying that the Conservatives would either, but the government is just taking liberty's from the the pockets of the hard working people.

Stop giving out benifits to the people who claim they can't work, because they are too fat to get out of the chair, when really they cant be arsed to go to work because it has been made too easy for them.
That way the tax on all things no just the fuel could be reduced.

If you went to Australia to live you have to prove that you can support yourself or that your skill is something that the country needs. To come to the UK you just have to turn up and say Hello!!!! and the tax that has just been taken from me filling my fuel tank will be given to you to help you buy new clothes and shoes.

The country is not working and we have to start somewhere, and as fuel is the biggest cost that everyone has to endure, why not start there!!!
If the French can protest then why cant we!!!!!!

Any fuel protests need to be targeted better than in 2000. Back then, the blockades caused public opinion to turn against the protest, because motorists were suffering but the government wasn't. On the contrary, as prices soared due to scarcity, the government prospered from the blockade as the VAT charge per litre increased.
I am in favour of targeted protests - specifically any blockade needs to be in central London, right at the heart of government territory.
By all means send a few thousand articulated lorries to jam up the London area. Even better, send just a few dozen lorries to blockade that tiny part of London inhabited by government - ie Whitehall & Downing Street. Only if the government really feels and sees the protest on its doorstep will any protest be properly effective - and the long-suffering motorists of Britain can support such action without suffering further, which means that such action could continue indefinitely.
Blockade Whitehall & Downing Street now!

Willing to join protest.

The government is so short sighted they say they want to keep inflation down at all costs. Then they put more duty and tax onto the fuel that cause ALL items we all buy to rise in price.

I am only doing about 6000 to 7000 miles in a year I can't afford any more, and it is spoiling life as we know it, by having petrol at any thing over 85p per Ltr.

It is about time!

MY son works for a haulage company that is now under threat of closer due to these heavy taxation fuel charges.. They have also sunk their teeth into the car tax and bump that up for lager vehicles hence making it very expensive to own a 4x4.. I am not saying that it is unfair what i am saying is soon he will be unemployed along with about 100 other drivers ..

Surely this stupid government can see they are not just using heavy tactics to gather extra income here but are indeed putting peoples lives and jobs at risk!..

In all the years i have lived here in cumbria i have never in all my days seen such hi costs of living, Now my son tells me his home could be at risk if he was to loose his job..

Get real you greedy government & listen to your voters to whom put you in power in the first place, or prepare to be kicked out of office!!!!! ..

I don't really want to get into a spat about politics - each to their own and all that - but I don't see the doom and gloom that the news-media constantly reports - I have prospered under this Labour government and am not going to complain about a few extra pennies on a gallon of petrol anymore than will I be singing from the rooftops when the price goes down again - which it inevitably will too.

Don't suppose there will be any mass dancing in the streets when that happens :)