Your Comments

Sounds like good news. The number of cars on the road increases steadily every month, poving that income can easily match the increasing cost of motoring. While this luxury is still easily affordable, the government should take advantage of it to generate money for services (which, incidentally, many of the same people spend time complaining about the quality of) used by every single person in this country.

Once motoring prices reach the limit people can afford, people will stop using their cars unless they have no choice, and the government will have to look again at where they generate their income. Tax on fuel will stop increasing. Those who need to drive will get there quicker on quieter roads.

Sounds like everyone gains, to me.

Reduce government spending and reverse the increase. This government are past masters at trying to get more money from the motorists but are themselves economically inept.

Lets do as the French would do, blockade the ports jam the motorways all have an extra day a week off work best a Friday or Monday to tag on to the weekend. As long as we keep putting up with it they will carry on doing it. It realy is getting unaffordable to live in the UK. Perhaps that why 270,000 Brits emigrated abroad last year?

Mr Darling - like most of his 'ilk' have never 'run' anything and would make a hash of running a bath.

So, if you drink, drive and smoke your hammered - what would I do?. put a special purchase tax on toilet roll - everybody uses that!

Regards M.

People are giving up smoking so the gov wont get the revinue so they punnish the moterist by upping the petrol prices

Yet again the people who rely on thier motors to get from one place to anther owing too the disabilities they have are being hammered and we're amongst the poorer section of the income bracket.

A very annoyed Dennis

Just daylight robbery.

We have been in this spot before, everyone will remember the huge fuel strike of a few years ago, it bought the country to it knees, and although not a fantstic plan, it certainly made the Government sit up and take notice.

I agree we should make a stand, and as someone said on here if we keep letting them put up tax on fuel, they will keep doing it.

petition!! were do I sign.

Here we go again, those of us old enough to remember the inflation that the socialists injected into the system last time will have a feeling of deja vu. It just a way of reducing their costs by reducing the value of the money they repay debts with, which of course are our savings and pensions reduced in value.

I'd Vote Tory over this ... ridiculous...

Is this the government getting more money out of us again. How can they get away with this ?

the goverment will loose a load of tax this winter becouse people wont go to the pub and smoke & drink in the cold so who do they hit with the tax lose the DRIVER AGAIN and again

It's about time NOW that we have another fuel protest,and i MEAN NOW!

I agree with the comment about the petrol expenses; they never seem to increase with the price of petrol - hence your salaries are reduced due to the increasing petrol charges.
It is no wonder we are a country riddled by debt - the government and agencies keep putting up prices - where do they think we can get the money from?
This further blight on our salaries/wages is truly shocking.

It's absoultly ridiculious how much prices have gone up for everything let alone petrol!

The government want to make the UK a more affordable place for its inhabitants, so they raise all the prices for Petrol, housing, road tax etc. and they keep our wages the same!! Hello anyone in there!!!!

Bring the price of petrol back down!! At least start there anyway!!

Its about time the government left fuel prices alone the cost of getting to work is high enough without higher prices, that means the bus fares will go up, as well as car travel, and everything else, but wages don't go up to match.

At this late stage the Government will not to reverse their increase in Fuel Duty. There is another 2.00p/litre increase due April 1st 2008, 6 months down the road.

The present Government is borrowing far too much money to "throw" at various projects, claiming things are getting better. Sooner or later you have to pay the "piano player". The only way to raise revenue is from the general public through "taxes and charges".

The "disposable income" of the general public is shrinking faster than they can earn it.

I am a Manager of a petrol station and I can assure you that we only make approx 3p profit per litre!

The reason why the large Supermarkets like Tesco, Asda and Sainsburys etc can afford to offer cheaper fuel and promotional offers like 5p off per litre is simply down to the fact that their profits are not at the pumps but instore. They have such huge profits each year that they can pass this onto their customers at the pumps!

This is why you will normally find the supermarkets pump prices 3 or 4p cheaper per litre compared to the likes of Bp, Texaco, Murco etc.

It's the Government who are pushing the prices up and we need to do something. No matter who we vote in, whatever party gets into power will rob us on motoring taxes one way or another!!

Unless we do something as a United Kingdom to try and cut these taxes, then we will have to just grin and bear it!

What is this extra tax for? Will we ever see an of it? I doubt it. The Government just seem intent on taxing you for literally everything you do. More tax on tax, and VAT on top of that as well! Welcome to Rip Off Britain! Running a car in the UK is just getting beyond a joke now, especially if they bring in this thing about charging per mile. They already charge you through your Insurance just to have it parked on your drive! Then they charge you through the Car Tax just to have it parked on a road! I would get a motorbike - but cannot put baby seats on it. I drive an Estate car, which I need to carry my family in, but now I'm seriously thinking of alternatives - public transport, battery car, motorbike, walking. I just cannot afford to pay more tax with little or no return. We might as well hand over our wage packets to the Government, and let them clothe, house and feed us - see how they manage doing that, as I'm finding great difficulty doing it, no doubt along with others. They say it pays to be honest and law-abiding - but I'm having serious doubts now.

SCRAP IT!!!!!!

I can't believe the prices are to go up again. How else are you supposed to travel to work then by car when you live in the countryside and work in a town. The public transport system is a joke and I would use it if the timetable included times for commuters working normal office hours. I think it is a disgrace!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Driving a car is getting way to expensive. The problem is that public transport SUCKS! I would not mind a tax increase on petrol is there was a REAL alternative to the car. Come on get it sorted.

help !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cut the fat cat's & politician's wages instead and make those with more money than sense pay higher tax.

I totally despair of this country and the politicians running it.

Let's get out of our cars and do a little bit more walking.

Take John and Sarah to school on foot; it's only a half mile and you'll be there in fifteen minutes with no parking to worry about. Get some fresh air on a Sunday morning by walking the dog to the newsagent, not stuffing him in the back of the estate and driving there.

Most of your 2p extra is being vented by your automatic choke on short journeys, so save the car engine, your pocket and your expanding waistline by giving Mr. Darling the figure and show him you don't give a damn.

Why do we keep putting up with this. We should do something on mass to let these people know we are here and will not put up with this situation any longer.
PS. it look's like we will be voting this government back in as well!!

I think we should have another go at stopping fuel tankers from laving the depot, similar to that in 2000/2001.

I agree with Andrew Brierley start a petition and have a strike, if we keep letting them get away with it they wont stop

As usual, we in Britain will just take it lying down! We keep paying and not stop buying!
Boycott one and the rest will feel vunerable and think again about too much profit.

The Gov know full well that adding a few pence here and there on the duty for fuel will not stop people using their cars, so really they are just lining their pockets.
Can this be seen as fraudulently obtaining our money under the guise of appearing ecologically concerned?
If they REALLY wanted us to stop using our cars then it would be £2.35 extra per litre not 2.35p.
Bollo*ks

what IS GOING ON...I MISSED THIS ONE WHEN IT WAS ANNOUNCED

Mr Brown wants a logo for Britain...Rip Off Britain, I have all ways contended that the British government could devise a way to measure the amount you breathed then they would impose a tax on that.. So I guess the writer that suggested that a toilet roll tax could be imposed because we all use it....however I wish that he had suggested it as we might find it in a future budget...as the government had not yet thought off it.
It is strange that as mentioned in the last dispatches program the mp's do not have to account for their spending and are claiming large sums for expenditures and we are paying for it.....
Mr Brown wants us to believe in his comments and for us to trust him!!!....he is now the boss after all.

Just a question but why are we spending lots of money on fuel in army trucks etc that MUST use much much more fuel than I do if extra 2.5p tax is required.
Also why are MP's not all on bikes when on official ??? duty?

If public transport were really a viable alternative then people I think WOULD use it, the problem is that it's unreliable, low quality and overpriced so no one uses it which forces services to be withdrawin and prices to rise leading to more people not using it. I enjoy using my car, and I hate to see the givernment trying to squeeze as much money as possible out of motorists, they're not getting my vote in the forseeable future

We have no say in this matter, yet another government tax that we have to soak up. But why are we so apathetic - no-one protests, we just moan about it and have to pay the additional duty. Wages do not rise to keep pace with the increase, I am working class and live in an area where the car is a necessity - not a luxury! Let's have a "go slow" on the motorways and get the lorries to join in, only by protesting is this government going to take notice - just wait until Gordon Brown really gets to work on all the additional tax hikes he is going to introduce

Bad time for an election Gordon!! What with this and road tax !!!!

Amanda (post 1) - I'm afraid there's little evidence to suggest that taxation does anything to change long term behaviour - sure there might be a short term effect, but in the end the effect is to drive up salaries (and inflation!).

I would be less grudging about paying my motoring taxes if I knew that the money being raised was ringfenced for public transport improvements, and not to pay for the latest government folly, junkett or house decoration. Motorists are just an easy target, but until the government forces a genuine alternative to the private car, motorists are simply not easily able to change their behaviour, so increasing fuel and road tax is just a false economy as it just creates an underlying pressure on salary rises.

I'm not sure we can really pressure for the increase to be scrapped as budgets have been made based on it being implemented, but I'd be all for the idea of organised boycotting of individual petrol chains. I don't think a day or even a week is sufficient - how about a month? For example, we could boycott BP in October, Shell in November and Esso in December, and next year start on the others and supermarkets? Of course, unless people don't drive for 6 months all we're really doing is spending our money in different places, so the overall money changing hands doesn't alter, but I presume losing the majority of a month's petrol income would have a substantial impact on cash flow for lots of companies. It's probably not the best idea to publicise the boycotts too far ahead of time otherwise the company can prepare, but say the last week of the month for the following month? Or perhaps we just pick one unlucky company and boycott them for a year? Consumer power must count for something in this day and age!!

Putting the cost of fuel up is just killing the countries economy as a whole. Everything we do in this country and many others require fuel to it somewhere along the line.
Everything we eat and drink is delivered to us by fuel. Its not just the motorist this price increase will affect its every thing and every body.
I think the government should look a little closer to home for money saving ideas.

If Mr. Brown has any sense, he will instruct his chancellor not to increase fuel duty at this time, unless he knows that there is not going to be a general election soon.

Raising the cost of living for a large section of the population nea an election could be a serious vote loser. I wonder what the other political parties' views are on the fuel tax issue. Would they raise the tax too? In that case it would not matter who we voted for.