PetrolPrices.com backs the Telegraph to get a ‘Fair Deal for Drivers’

I think a total, national strike could be in order - just think of the chaos that we could all cause by refusing to go to work until prices were slashed - the cost of fuel at the moment represents a taxation level approximating 100%.

THe complaining and boycotting of certain fuel companies isn't going to make much difference. The fact is that there is far great demand for fuel than ever before. In fact, as standards of living increase in emerging markets, you'll find that the demand will get greater, Tata have just brought out the Nano car which will put millions more Chinese and Indian Families on the road,. You cant deny these people these things as we have them now. There are certain arguments from economists that the only way to get out of this mess in the long term is to raise fuel duties. This would force motorists to run more efficient vehicles and think twice about unessesary journeys. Hopefully, this would result in the long term, us requiring less fuel and therefore reducing the Russian and opec's stranglehold over us as a country. You have to bear in mind that as a country we use 5 % less oil now than we did 30 years ago. Let's face it, the gov aint gonna cut taxes on fuel, they'll postpone the 2p rise until after a general election to try and retain a morsel of popularity and stiff us with it afterwards. This is it though, the chance we have of fuel prices now lowering is if the emerging market countries reduce their fuel subsidies, which they have aready started doing. This will effect slow their economies and demand for oil. Then we may see it ease, but , it aint going below a £1 per litre again.

I see the majority of people demanding that the government bring the level of fuel taxation down but in reality this ain’t going to happen and if it dose it not going to be by much (I guess if it comes down that decrees would soon be swallowed by the rising cost of the raw material) I changed my petrol car (which returned 20mpg) for a diesel car (which returns 50mpg) just over a year ago which has helped, and also reduced my road tax but that’s a different issue I have no choice but to drive to work I cover 750-800 miles per week which I have to cover the cost of, I have seen the price of diesel rise by 30p per litre over the pas 12 months and don’t think signing a petition, blockades, boycotting individual filling stations, etc, etc. will really help what we need to do is plan for the future I am currently trying to decide weather it would be a better long tern solution for myself to A. go back to a petrol car and stump up the £2000 need to convert it to LPG or B. keep the diesel and buy a biodisel processor for around £1500 and produce my own fuel for around 15p per litre using the waste oil from a friends chip shop (which he now pays to have collected) .
I have do quite a lot of research into both and am still unable to make my mind up but at least I ain’t crying in my porridge demanding the government and multi billion dollar to give me a break they are not going to listen you have to do it for yourself or just pay the price and stop crying.

Re Shaun Hogan's comment, a nice idea ..... but I think we need to straighten out some facts:

1. Esso and BP are NOT one company. Exxon (Esso's parent company in the US) merged with Mobil in 2000 and is now known internationally as ExxonMobil. BP remains a separate company and is UK based.

2. Shell is (historically) much bigger than BP and is second only to Esso.

3. The big oil companies, which include the above as well as Elf, Texaco, Amoco, etc. sell to supermarkets, although supermarkets do also buy in directly off the spot market.

4. All the big oil companies in the UK are linked with exchange and throughput arrangements, so for example if you buy fuel in Scotland from an Esso site, it's origin is almost certainly from BP Grangemouth, being a nearer source of supply than Esso's site on the south coast.

The idea of boycotting some and only buying from others is fine, but it's a complex picture and if we wait for the return of 69p /litre, I for one will not hold my breath! Better perhaps to continue to buy from the cheapest places - although this can sometimes mean buying from the big companies. The downside is that this will ultimately serve to put the small independent distributors and garages out of business.

etc. etc.....

Have a nice day.....

My small family car is essential not a luxury, I only do around 3000 miles a year taking my child to school and getting to work on time. Public transport is too expensive and unreliable, Gordon Brown needs to come down to earth and realise that we cannot live with petrol prices going up hence all the food prices are increasing. As a single parent I find it all quite soul destroying to try and make ends meet. Wake up Gordon.

I think it's stupid I can not afford to buy a brand new car as i am on a low income but i work a fair way from my home as it is the only place i could get a job so i need my car but it is getting so bad that i can not afford to run the car so i may have to quit my job which then means i am unemployed why carn't the government run a scheme to help people like me as i am sure i am not the only one or lower prices on petrol or even the road tax

i find it somewhat disturbing that the fuel price in arabia is about 7p a litre i realise that charges have to be made to us in relation to fuel tax or duty to maintain the roads but it appears with the rising costs our duty payments rise also please reduce those

With reference to Shaun Hogan's blog, you can add Texaco to the list of companies to boycott, the reason being is that their prices are on a par with BP in my town, which is Hemel Hempstead, I flatly refuse to buy my fuel there.

With regard to the Government's plans to add 2p to a litre and to their intention to increase car tax, I say bring it on, as these actions will only hasten this terrible Government's inevitable demise.

It is costing me a fortune to get to work now. Unfortunately as I work shift work public transport is not an alternative.

Yesterday I filled up my car and was very surprised at getting almost 40 litres in the tank. My fuel tank is only 30 litres and was 2/3 empty!

It seems to me that this particular filling station has rigged their pumps. This is the 2nd time it has happened too. First time I didn't realise at first what had happened.

This particular filling station is well known and not a small independant outlet.

The price of petrol at Shell soverein is now 113.99 in Prince avenue near ss0 0sa

The price of petrol is now 113.99 ay Shell soverein in prince avenue close to
ss0 0sa

the Telegraph page takes an age to load and won't let me post a comment. not sure if its my browser or the original page. we get taxed to use the road, taxed to put fuel in our Cars and V.A.T. on top of that. People like me drive an old car because we can't afford a new one. Labour is going to tax us all to poverty. I back the campaign against tax rises.

Paddy Ashdown made some comments on BBC's Question Time recently that high fuel and food prices were here to stay and we should get used to it (all the time denying that he was in any way employed by the government).
Only last week, Gordon Brown made the same comments which were easily digested by the public thanks to Paddy's blow softening technique.
These statements are dangerous as they allow retailers to raise and maintain high prices.
We are living in bad times, held to ransom by fuel producers and supermarkets with a government that doesn't represent our interests in a world on the brink of depression thanks to shenanigans in the banking sector.
The best thing is we can't even emigrate to escape this one!

Where is the fairness in all this, why are fuel prices so different Tesco sells fuel in one area at 3-4p per litre more than a tesco 18 miles away is it the same for bread and milk or are they just ripping certain areas off.
Why should I pay £400 per year road tax to allow me to use a land Rover to tow a trailer of 3 tonne and do less than 6000 miles per year plus the fact I do not holiday abroad.Can a Prius tow 3 tonne? will it last 20 years? What are the enviromental costs of disposing the batteries after about 6 years when they fail?
Is it fair that I could do 12,000 miles a year in a smaller car and fly abroad twice a year. Which is the greener choice?
Why should the government take over 65p out of every litre of fuel. We are in RIP OFF Brittain.

Oh dear the doom and gloom merchants are out in force here. We may,or even may not be in the mystical doom bringing peak oil scenario. How did oil get to $100 a barrel? All because some muppet wanted to be the first broker to pay $100 a barrel. He then sold them immediately at a loss. Smart broker eh?
Remember Jan 1st 2000, everything was going to fail, planes would fall out of the sky, oil refineries would stop working ( at least its on topic), petrol stations would stop working (again on topic), people started to stock up on food and move into the country and become self sufficient. What happened? Nothing, feck all, not a thing, nada. Petrolpries.com started this debate as the tax we pay to the government on fuel is to high, we pay fuel tax, then VAT on that fuel tax, taxed twice on one product, is that fair? The rise in VED isn't a green tax, its just another tax and one that is going to hit the motorist on a low budget or low income families. It will hit smaller second hand car dealers as no one will want the cars that attract a higher tax, putting more people out of business. Some people may even start using public transport more, anyone knows that that the public transport in this country cant cope. So what will the do? Put more buses and trains in use, increasing oil consumption and increasing oil process through demand. Everyone knows that buses are more polluting than an average car, so how is that green? High oil prices may be here to stay, or are they? Who knows what will happen. If you start a rumor someone at some point will start to believe it and then it becomes fact, even if its not.

There are as always a number of self confessed "experts" on here and the usual believers that we are all doomed.

A person is smart, people are dumb. Make up your own minds as to what is happening people, and don't believe everything you read.

Petrol prices near me are 103.9 for unleaded and 109.9 for diesel. Where do I live? Well I aint telling.

Regarding Shaun Hogan's comments above - he should leave out Tesco as an alternative to buying from Esso or BP - as most Tesco stores petrol stations are supplied by ESSO.

I think this government is like the saying goes, "the blind leading the blind"

The hard working men and women of our country are being well and truly made to suffer. Not only does Mr Brown think its a marvelous idea to scrap the 10 pence tax band which ultimately puts the low paid workers in the poor house even further, and puts money in the pockets of the high earners, we are paying through the nose to put fuel in our cars.

Due to the fuel price rises we have seen food bills go up as the transportation costs are higher. When will this ever end? Where are we supposed to find the extra monies from to subsist.

Labour is a taxing government, tax for this, tax for that, tax for the other, and they will continue to tax, tax, tax.

Open up your eyes Mr Brown and have a look around you. You and your Labour colleagues purport to be a government with the working class people in our society held close to your hearts. You can no longer fool us. You are now become transparent and we will not be fooled by your government any longer.

TIME TO GO!

Typical mealy-mouthed English attitudes and comments...

"Lets do something... this is disgusting!"

yet they do.... NOTHING!

Blah blah blah blah... keep talking sheep.

past and present governments have taxed the motorist so much over the years and now there is no room for menoeuver in raising taxes. Its so
unfair on the motorist who does not do a great deal of mileage(not a slave to
their Car!) If prices continue the way they are going, my car might have to
go after giving up other things in life to have this luxury and working very ,
very hard to keep it on the road!Dont approve of bio fuels as it use crops
that should be used to feed people. scientist will just have to work
harder to find another solution to try and make things greener and cheaper
for the motorist.

I wouldn't mind half so much for the price increases on petrol, if the money was ploughed back into maintaining the roads to an acceptable level. As it is, not one road I drive on is free from pot holes or needing repair. Also, If a decent transportation system across the country was in place, I wouldn't mind using my car less, but as it is, its not practical for me to use local transport to get to work.

Why does "Being Green" to this govenment just mean tax people more ? how does that make us a greener and not just poorer?

THE FUEL PRICES ARE FAR TO HIGH GORDON BROWN SHOULD SCRAP THE RISE IN TAX AND INSTED LOWER IT SO WE ALL CAN STILL AFORD TO GET TO WORK

Since my last post this morning at 09.49, i came past the same Texaco garage and yes you've guessed it the price of unleaded has increased since this morning at 2.30 this afternoon it's was at 117.09p,

This situation is just getting beyond control, not a single week goes by when petrol/diesel doesn't get hiked up by profiteering petrol garages, because thats what i see it as, with these constant price hikes,

These garages are just "extracting the urine" now,

Ok so what are we the going to do about as a nation we surly cannot afford this any more, so what of next week then the price will be hitting 149.09p at the rates it rising and quite possibly the price of unleaded will be beyond the means or mere mortals by the end of 2008.

Can someone tell me how much does petrol cost in other parts of the world Arabic coulntries and USA? I've been told that we are the highest petrol price yet we supply the fuel to a lot of Europe. Why do we put up with being fleeced in all parts of our spending. Also does this or any other goverment really care about the PEOPLE? If you think so please say why if not please say why not.

Hi, i would like to know why tesco charges 1.16.9p a litre in York when just around the corner its 1.14.9? So I asked. Tesco staff agree its a rip off and are tired of people complaining yet the price stays 2p more. As a nation we have always been led to believe that the supermarkets are cheapest place to buy fuel as they sell it in huge amounts (ha ).......lets hope the very nice man at the local press really does run his stroy!!

This would have made more sense before the current source price-rises, but it would still bring home the amount of money we are paying in duty: filling station forecourt banners should show the price of fuel WITHOUT any duty, then stickers on the pumps would show the price you'll actually have to pay.

I'm an economics student, and I am aware of the concept of fiscal policy as a way of reducing demand for de-merit goods. However, petrol is price inelastic, making this ineffective, and even if it was going to work what is the point of increasing the fuel tax by 2p if the market has done that itself? Gordon Brown is an economic genius, but this is definitely a Mr Brean policy!

I have been in Dumpton Park Garage Ramsgate Road Broadstairs 16.50hrs 4th June 2008 and the diesel was £1.16 per litre. I don't no if the price was a mistake or for real. I never said anything about it and nether did the bloke who works there.

Not only should the Government scrap the proposed 2p/lit rise, but it should also go back to prices before these major rises, calculate what tax and duty it was raising and work out what that means as pence per litre, then reset current prices to reflect the same pence per litre. There is no reason why the Government should benefit from our misfortune - this is in effect yet another stealth tax and is completely unethical and unacceptable.

The government should be considerate and pass on some benefits of the additional tax revenue to the road users.

The UK is still one of the very few countries of the world where diesel is more expensive than petrol. It costs a fraction of the amount of time and money to refine diesel compared with petrol.
Diesel is also less polluting to the environment. Therefore, why are we paying so much more for it??
The government is trying to make us "greener", so why not reduce the cost of diesel and encourage people to get diesel cars?
It must simply be down to them making a lot more money from diesel than petrol.

Fuel prices in the uk are outragous. When are the British people going to make a stand. We cannot carry on with this. It is not just the petrol prices that effect us its also the knock on effect that the petrol prices cause.
Where does it stop?

The government should STOP being so greedy. They based their taxes on an oil price of between $70 and $80 a barrel but now they are around $130. The government dont take a set fee, they take a percentage therefore they are raking in millions of pounds extra over and above what they budgetted for. Its about time they started taking a standard amount instead of a percentage. I think the percentage currently stands at around 65% WHY so high?
65% of $80 = $52 therefore they can manage on $52 dollars which they originally budgetted for. 65% of $130 = $84.5 a barrel. Now $84.5 - $52 = $32.5 a barrel is what the government is taking over and above what they budgetted for!!!
Its the GOVERNMENT being GREEDY that is our problem. The price of petrol could EASILY fall below £1 a litre if only OUR ELECTED GOVERNMENT will be fair with everyone.

Please bring fuel back to under £1 per Litre asap and reduce the tax from 58% to a reasonable rate

There are a lot of people making a lot of money out of these fuel prices at the expense of the general public. One of the biggest supermarkets in St Austell are selling there fuel above the price of anyone else, more then BP & Texaco garages. No wonder they have billions of pounds in profits.
What about the Arab nations that supply the oil, the oil companies and speculators . Fat cats getting fatter on our misery,

Where is all the money going to that the government are raking in every day, and they are not satisfied with that. They want to increase car tax for cars that are older then 3 years and put the charge under the disguise of green taxes. Its the poorer people who have the older cars and once again they are going to be penalised.
Surely this government can see the plight of the country and where we are heading. Its time they done something about it or the way the country is going it will be taken out of there hands with the ordinary people rebelling, as the truck drivers & fisherman are now.
Someone please see sense before its too late.

What they need to do is think about other people when charging people for fuel because of the rise every haulage company has to loose a driver every single time fuel goes up maybe not for big companies but smaller companies are struggling instead of goverment thinking about how much they can earn from the tax from fuel instead they should worry about what could happen to the haulage industry.

My fuel bill has gone up by £20 per month and I have also noticed my shopping bill has increased considerably. This is unacceptable and something should be done to make the government realise they are put into power to do the best for the electorate and not line their own pockets at our expense.
I think they are all the same labour, tory, liberals as they promise to change and as soon as they get into power its what they want not the people who voted for them. Time it was sorted.

I am a car enthusiast but also a cyclist to which I commute to work - more so lately. I support the "green" argument to a certain degree however I do believe the Government uses this as a smoke screen to pile on more and more stealth taxes, hitting the law abiding (weve heard it all before) easy target of that is the motorist. A diesel car is more economical, more range to a tank but with the current gap between petrol and diesel becoming wider on a weekly basis it does make you ponder how much youre saving. With our high tax band surely we could have absorbed these price hikes at the pump, but no with the raise on crude its slapped onto us. Where does the tax investment go, yes our transport system aint the worst but compared to other Western Economies, notable France and Germany we are no where near as advanced in terms of realistic,efficient transport services. It cannot be said for most people, who work hard and to which travelling is a necessity in the job they do, that public tranport is a realistic option. A 10 hour day would become a 15 hour day x 5 days a week thats a huge increase in additional working hours. Lets get this price down, my full support

i am in the same position as a lot of people with the fact that i am self employed and need a van for work,the wife has a car for her work & then i have my car for personal use ( all on finance so cant be sold ) since the rises in fuel i could well be out of work before long as i will go broke. The point is i think that the unemployment rate is set to go through the roof with people not being allowed to work through no fault of their own so the goverment will then be even more out of pocket as they will have to finance even more unemploymant

Personally this rising cost of petrol has crippled me, I live 20 miles from where I work (I can't afford to live any closer - prices are ridiculous), I would get the train but it doesn't work out any cheaper, plus it's a good 25 minute walk from my house - which isn't a problem in the morning but walking back there late at night in an unsafe area is not a good idea - and getting a taxi will just cost even more. They have cancelled so many buses too that getting one would make my journey to work 1.5 hours EACH WAY. I'm already driving a slower, less direct route to conserve petrol but if it keeps rising I don't know what I'm going to do! Do they even think about people like me?

The three most significant factors causing the rise in oil are:- speculation by fund managers, the desire by the producing countries to get the same price for their raw material per gallon as our government gets by way of tax per gallon, the inability of this totally incompetent government to be able to show any temporary relief for it's people. This effects all of us, not just the motorists amongst us. Gordon "The Moron" Brown has literally bust this country, and indeed the problems that we are seeing and feeling NOW would have manifested themselves long before now if his bacon had not been saved by two other incredibly well-timed oil crisis in the past decade.

lets get one thing straight,the goverment ain,t going to listen to any thing what is said,so the only way i see is like this,do it the french way block ports and bring the whole country to a complete standstill untill the idiots in parliament sit up and listen

As BP and ESSO, pruduce their own oil,it should cost less.They like everyone else has jumped on the speculaters bandwagon. If everyone boycotted BP and ESSO,they would have to bring the prices down..

One thing EVERY politicial party relies on is the fact that, 1 the british population has a long history of not being able to bring enough people together for a duration of a campaign to alter the goverments desicions or manifesto.

just look at the first petrol blockade, brought about by the welshman, it was gaining ground and what did the goverment do, they said if it carried on it would impact the emergancy services and it would be accountable to the protesters, what happened they caved in and I belive the welshman sold out and took a possition.

As said british consecative goverments know this and exploit it, just look at the french if they want to protest anything the goverment caves in within a few weeks because our european cousins know how to make polacy change by uniting solidly, untill the average joe's mindset in the uk realises this there is nothing we can do to stop this escalation of all slam taxes fuel tax hikes and big agglomarates hikeing up prices at will.

Road fund licence money is not used for the benifit of better roads or transport infrastructure its main use is to help prop up the NHS and other maid goverment debts.

we are being played like tin soldiers and untill we fully unite and stick to it no matter what NOTHING will change other than higher prices

Christ almighty !!!!! I've just recieved the weekly update and my local garage (i live in the sticks) has increased it's price on unleaded by another 1p now up to 115.09p from 114.09 last week and only (i say only !!) 110.09p a couple of weeks ago

There are not enough expletives in the english vocabulary to explain how annoyed i am, at these constant price hikes in fuel, trouble is there are not any cheaper options all the garages round here at charging the same, is it just massive profiteering on these garages part knowing full well we the petrol buying public are a captive market or is it genuinely what the price of a barrell of crude is costing, this is what i'd like to know, when questioned the aformentioned garage (Texaco) said thats what we have to charge !!!! if thats the case why did i see unleaded at almost 130.09p in Croydon, so theres obvioisly some margin for B/S here.

Yeah right, and i've got a multi billion pound empire at my beck and call.

Something needs doing now,

I think the tax on fuel is rediculas as well as oil firms making record profits its clearl they are trying to destroy us by getting more money out of us, why we are strugaling live I feel the only way to hit back is to blockade the main oil refinarys and petrol stations and fight back why is only england scared of making a stand for our country when other countrys fight for what they beleive is right for there country.

I am a one man buisness running one sprinter van I do 500 miles a week and have seen the cost re-fulling gone up from about £60 per week to £90+,
This goverment wants STUFFING with the blunt end of a ragbone mans trumpet.
The ammount of tax the gavorment get from fuel is TOTALY OUT OF ORDER and should be cut.
Getting rid of VAT Should of the first order failng that SCRAP fuel duty.

It's about time this socialist government led by that useless halfwit Gordan Brown saw sense and thought about the man in the street as apposed to their funding of all those failed policies which have cost us, the public, millions of pounds.
Car users as usual are an easy target because of our use of a vehicle to get to work, shopping and pleasure.

I do unpaid volunteer work for the Prison Service. I drive around 300 miles per month. The mileage allowance has NOT been increased since diesel was 85p per litre. The country will lose many voluntary workers if they are not looked after better than this
We were all encouraged a few years ago to buy a diesel engined car and diesel prices would be kept lower than unleaded !! as is the case in our neighbouring countries

Britain has a broadly neutral balance of trade in oil. Yes, we are now a net importer again, but not by much.

Consequently the increase in North Sea Oil Revenues could be used to mitigate the rise in motor fuels without stretching Darling's budget which was cast at a petrol price equivalent of 90p or so per litre. Currently he's winning twice - once out of the oilwell and again at the pumps.

And don't believe Eyeore when he tries to convince the punters the Chancellor has to borrow to fund the raising of the income tax threshold. Why do you think the MP's feel they can line up for huge salary & expenses increases? Yup - the pork barrel is full again!

Phlopp