Petrol and diesel prices are currently at a three-and-a-half year high, despite the fact that we’ve had seven years, and eight budgets where fuel duty has been frozen – the fuel duty freeze is estimated to have cost the Treasury around £7 billion since its 2011 starting date.
The freeze in fuel duty means that, on average, we’re paying 13% less than we could be; looking at our Top 10 most expensive places, that could mean prices as high as 158.0ppl.The changes put forward propose a 13% rise in fuel duty, leading to an extra 8p per litre, making tax 71.28p per litre, a huge figure.
The downside
A report by Greener Journeys has stated that road users are paying too little for the use of the roads when compared to the cost associated with them, these costs include: congestion, accidents, local air pollution, noise, greenhouse gas emissions, harm to the landscape and biodiversity.
The static fuel duty has led to a 4% increase in traffic growth, which in turn has meant higher congestion and increased pollution; an additional 4.5 million tonnes of CO2 and 12,000 tonnes of NOx are all directly contributable to the fuel duty freeze according to the study.
And thanks to the ‘low cost’ of fuel, public transport usage has dropped by between 1.3% – 3.9%, which equates to about 60 million fewer rail journeys, and 200 million fewer bus journeys. It’s worth noting that from the financial year 2019/20, the Government has stated that fuel duty will increase in line with the Retail Price Index. Greener Journeys say this has to be an absolute minimum if it’s to “send the right price signals to consumers”.
But what about the motorist?
Less than a month ago, we wrote about the families having to choose between food or fuel, in fact, 38% of respondents in an AA survey were having to adjust their driving/spending habit as a result of increasingly high petrol prices, how high would that number be if fuel was 8p a litre more expensive?
Averagely speaking, that’s almost an extra £250 per year on a fuel bill, around 1,300 fewer miles, or to put it another way, 6 weeks of no car usage whatsoever. That really is unacceptable.
Vehicle ownership is not a luxury. For many of us, it’s an absolute necessity; public transport infrastructure isn’t yet at a stage where the majority of us could give up our car, society has been developed around personal transport (think out-of-town retail centres), and busy lifestyles lead to minimising travel/maximising efficiency.
The roads policy spokesman for the RAC, Nicholas Lyes has firmly stated that the Government should consider helping the motorist out, and reduce fuel duty, going so far as to ask whether deliberately raising fuel prices will actually stop people driving, or just make those motorists without a viable alternative “significantly poorer”?
He also gave a warning – taxation of the motorist via fuel duty is not viable long term, thanks to increasing use of hybrid or electric vehicles, finding an alternative is likely to be “controversial, and potentially, a political time bomb”.
What will a price increase mean to you?
The good news is that despite the recommendations of the Greener Journeys report, the whole issue of fuel duty is so politically toxic that you can almost guarantee that any political party will tread carefully around the subject – it’s very doubtful that we’ll see a rise to 71.28p a litre fuel duty overnight.
However, we’re still paying near to eighty percent tax on fuel, excluding VED, and the price of oil is rising almost daily, so despite the best efforts of the Government, fuel prices are at a high, and we’re the ones paying the price.
Along with the regular advice of downloading the PetrolPrices app, ensuring that your car is mechanically sound, and looking out for deals through local supermarkets, we’d also encourage you to think slightly longer term; tyre choices are a great starting point.
A tyre’s rolling resistance can account for about 30% of a vehicles fuel consumption, researchers in Germany have calculated that someone driving around 20,000 miles per year could save as much as £200 on their fuel bill, just by switching to a green tyre. Of course, it only really makes sense if you need to replace your tyres anyway.
Added to that, if your car has roof bars or rack, it’s very much worth removing them for your daily use – these can affect your fuel consumption by as much as 25% (dependent on configuration and vehicle). Imagine gaining an extra 10mpg, for free?
What would happen to your motoring mileage if fuel was 13% more expensive? Do you think that the Government may take heed of the RAC’s advice about lowering fuel duty? Can you think of a better way to tax motorists? And what will happen when the electric cars overtake the fossil-fuels?
Living In rural Devon where fuel prices tend to be higher, this is a nightmare. There is very little public transport, so no alternatives. And wages are considerably lower too, and shops, post offices and banks virtually non-existent. So just to take our children to school we have to drive three miles, then thirty-five miles to work.
I absolutely agree. I am now retired but live on the border of Devon and Somerset. There is no bus service and although the nearest small town is only two miles away shops and banks are closing meaning I may have to travel another 10 miles and then return to access any facilities. Those who work have no alternative but to to drive, as I used to, and the main centres of employment are not local.
It’s a pressure group so one can safely them. If the 🌲 huggers have their way we’ll all be back in the Stone Age.
“which equates to about 60 million fewer rail journeys”
Strange that – every search I do tells me that both the number of rail journeys and distances travelled continue to increase.
Most car journeys are through necessity and because there is no realistic alternative. When I lived in London I hardly used my car, now I live in the south west I have no alternative as there aren’t regular buses or trains.
I should imagine that part of the reason there has been a reduction in rail journeys is the reduction in the number of trains in service! Reduced timetable, to provide certainty and stability, further reduced services as they still had cancellations… people can’t afford to trust public transport, as there’s only so many times your boss will take “the train was late/cancelled” as an excuse for being late/missing work when they know you have your own car.
Green campaigners are constantly producing new environmental scare stories. Isn’t it time to challenge the veracity of the so called ‘facts’ they throw around so easily & not just consider the consequences were their recommendations implemented?
so all the scientific data stating that humans are the main cause of greenhouse gasses emission through burning of fossil fuels is a scare story?
Not a scare story but in some cases it seems to be grossly exaggerated..Just looking at the list they plucked out a hat. “these costs include: congestion, accidents, local air pollution, noise, greenhouse gas emissions, harm to the landscape and biodiversity”..implies they are desperate for attention.
Exactly. Tgey take is all for fools.
its a scam by governments to tax us, justified by bribing scientists to fudge data. So many stories of fiddling data to justify this. and all this is based on computer models that have failed to be born out by reality.
If it wasn’t a scam then the green taxes would have been fiscally neutral.
and our green policy has been stupid. windmills that need diesel backup especially during anticyclonic winter periods when no wind or solar. Dragging wood pellets from the US by polluting ships and trains. And p***ing off our strategic gas supplier -Russia
the problem with “scientific data”
is that all rampant forest fires that existed in history have never been recorded. the amount of gases released by forest fires that humans actively present has never been taken into account.
if you look at Portugal, the country was on fire for months last year. none of that co2 counts for any scientific data.
but if no one worked to stop the fires. there would have been a lot more co2 out there right now.
also, its a known fact that nature increases its consumption of co2 if more is available. theres a lot of data that is not taken into account by these lobby groups. but well.. they controll the media so.. not much we can do about it…
Mankind is not responsible for all greenhouse gas emissions. Only about 30% of annual global CO2 production comes from all of mankind. The rest is naturally occurring. Of that 30% Britain accounts for approx. 1.7%, India and China are still generating most of their electricity by fossil fuels and will continue to build new coal fired power stations for a while yet.
One of the problems with green house gases is that it’s not just CO2 that’s the problem, that’s the one that everyone latches onto but methane and water vapour are just as bad.
Stop telling “Porky Pies” that all Greenhouse Gasses emitted in this world are down to human activity.
Pretty much. I have seen no real data to prove nature is less polluting than mankind. Just a lot of populist documentaries and people like this bus company backed lobby group using the label ‘green’.
More London-centric twaddle
Hear hear. Personally I think increasing car use is a result of reduced public transport use and not the other way around. If trains and buses were cheaper and more reliable without the unions constantly striking to drive their nationalisation agenda then far more people would be happy to use public transport. They’ve taken correlation of 2 sets of numbers and ascribed a conclusion that suits their own agenda. There is absolutely no proof that not increasing fuel duty has caused what they claim.
This is not even a ‘green’ campaign group. Tgey just shove ‘green’ into their title. Its a group with a vested interest in forcing the public off the roads to benefit their companies.
This shoukd have been made clear in the headline.
Some people drive less than two miles for every journey and never leave their village or town, even when there is a bus service. Their longest trip is to the petrol station. Reducing the pollution from these cars is a waste of time!
This on top of council tax rises cuts the standard of living for people on fixed income ie pensioners.
Hate the term fixed income I’m on a fixed income too as my salary is set by my emplyer cannot trarily increase it because costs go up. At least pensioners get a raise every year with inflation. My pay has been frozen for five years. So I work but I’m on a fixed income too. Also I probably don’t own my home yet or have a golden company pension to use as all those perks are gone for my generation.
Andrew, Do you know what is considered to be a Living Wage per annum. It is estimated to be £11,574 a year minimum wage. The state basic state pension £6549.40 per annum so is £5025 below what is considered to be a Living Wage. Even the new state pension of £8546 is still way below being £3027 Lower than the considered Living Wage. So please don’t lump pensioners into your complaint about your employer as they are well below the considered “Living Wage”
It seems to me all these people are trying to do is force every motor vehicle off the road, what a bunch of a**holes…
Our fuel is already among the most expensive in Europe, interesting that many European countries DONT have the same environmental issues we have, and yet driving is far cheaper?
Sorry Anon to the bad news but ie Hungary is worth. 1 litre petrol costs you 1.11£ and the average salary is around 5-600 £/ month. so…
An average is ONE number or is that £5,600 a month or maybe you mean ranges who can tell, sigh
It’s far more expensive in the Netherlands than here in the U.K.!
I personally think that there must be another way of “highway robbery”. Cars fitted with a milage sensor that is linked to annual road tax. It is already unfair that some cars have a lower road tax, as ALL CARS cause the sameidnot more wear tear to roads.
Vehicles are already fitted with a sensor that measures the pollution they cause, though not the mileage they travel. It is called the fuel guage.
I think it makes excellent sense to increase fuel duty and scrap road tax. That way you can see what each journey is costing and at the same time reduce fixed overheads.
I totally agree. I have to pay about £275 road tax for doing dome 5000 miles a year in a 16 year old sh*theap yet some people are travelling 50000 miles a year in £75000 Range Rovers paying less than I do. How is that even remotely fair? Put the tax on petrol and then people who use more of it it pay for it.
I totally agree. I’m paying £290 per year now for road tax, and only doing about 500 miles per year. Yes, that is correct – 500 miles per year, about 10 miles per week. I’m nearly 70 and I need my car to do my shopping, but I am being made to feel more and more like it’s an expensive burden to own it, even though I need it. If I could say goodbye to my expensive road tax, I would happily pay more in fuel tax.
Fixing the roads if the duty was increased is a must, It should also be ring fenced to remain for that use because our roads were never built for 40 ton wagons and we need to get them off the road and onto the railways.
Then use 40 x 1 ton vans to deliver the goods from the station to it’s destination, pay 40 drivers to drive the vans and don’t forget the amount of theft every time the goods wagon is put into a siding………
What! Have you ever tried delivering an Airbus 380 wing in 40 parts production in Wales and delivered to France or do you want to give more jobs to the EU. Steel , oil industry and cross Rail all had and have huge loads delivered not practical doh.
Hey don’t put me out of work.. If everyone is going to be selfish and not pay their dues to use the road, then don’t ask for me to be out of work. Get on your bike to work!
However you look at it, trucks are still needed to move the supplies from the railway to the end user (shops)
I note that this is a report by Greener Journeys, just having the word green in the title indicates that this is motorist hater group.
As things like unemployment decrease, people are going to travel around more, and lots of these new found jobs are night work when public transport is almost non existentent. Increasing fuel duty by 8p a litre, which would equate to over 9.5p by the time VAT was added would simply force many people off the road. At a time when it’s being reported that people are having to choose between buying fuel and buying food, this idea would stagnate the economy, which in turn would lead to higher unemployment, and we would slowly head further and further backwards.
Greener Journeys is a front for the Bus and Coach industry with every one of the directors also working for a bus or coach company.
Oh the irony! As the reason public transport use has decreased is not due to “cheap fuel” it’s more to do with the very same public transport services these charlatans provide is expensive, unrelaible and too infrequent! And in my area owing to Government Austerity policies forcing our local authority to remove the transport subsides these idiots rely on who respond with subsequent withdrawal of bus services in their entirety.
Subsidies don’t reduce the price they reduce quality of service and make us pat twice once for the ticket and again to pay for the subsidy.
What would bring down the cost of public transport would be real competition but 1st have put smaller operators out of biz by aggressive competition where they run a bus before every other competing bus.
How ‘reliable’ is the average car journey compared to public transport? Much worse in my experience!
Only us oiks will be priced off the road making the roads much less congested for the great and the good
A lot of truth in that David. It would certainly allow the wealthier amongst us to have an even more privileged lifestyle than those less well off and , who knows may even promote a Class War in the future to attempt to bring back a system where everybody has to hurt equally, not just those who are financially weaker to start with.
Seems like a completely floored report with a lot of assumptions and no thought for the big picture.
Green Journeys???? Another toxic community trying to make a name for itself. They cant understand that rail travel is far too expensive (when it works cancellations etc) having to go when they want you to go is dictorial. Forbears fought in two world wars to allow freedom from this sort of group. I would prefer government to BAN stupid groups of people trying to run my life to make a name for themselves.
Oh yeah how outrageous that they’re trying to stop you having the freedom to pollute the environment that we all use? Why don’t you turn your attention to the Government that is doing nothing to support the introduction of electric cars and sustainable energy?
Electric cars sound to be great but where is the additional electric to be generated? A power station near my home has been closing down but suddenly has won a reprieve as it is close to the HS2 line and will be reopened to burn more coal to supply more electric.
There aren’t enough power stations to provide all the electricity for charging them all.
You don’t have to worry about the power generation. I’ve seen a report that says that all the local grids to peoples houses will have to be upgraded as it can only support a certain amperage and if everyone tries to charge up their car at the same time it would blow the main fuses at the local substation.
Charging at home is stupid anyway, it’s the equivalent of having petrol delivered. But of course the not-fit-for-purpose technology that’s going to be pushed onto us is centered around the use of batteries, which are adequately convenient for your phone or laptop, but not for something critical like transport. When they need periods of hours to be replenished (and you can’t use them whilst plugged in!), we’ll all be running our lives around charging our cars.
There needs to be a way to “charge” a car near-instantaneously, as with a petrol / diesel vehicle – or a hydrogen fuel cell one.
Or a changeable battery
which power station is that Peter mason?
David,
A Substation is not a Power Station. A Power Station generates electricity whereas a Substation is a set of equipment reducing the high voltage of electrical power transmission to that suitable for supply to consumers. or vice versa.
Hope this helps with your understanding of Electrical Distribution and Overload Protection
When electric cars can travel a few hundred miles on a charge, i’ll take out a mortgage and buy one. Just the car mind, as when I enquired about an electric Renault, I was told I could lease the batteries for around £65 to £85 a month. I can fill my diesel Citroen DS5 for less than that and it lasts me two months, unless I’m going up to the north of Scotland from Surrey. Probably take three times as long in a “golf buggy” with all the charging stops .(assuming I could find enough of them). The technology simply isn’t ready so why push something(no pun intended) ,that is extremely limited)?
Add to that the pathetic amount the government is proposing to start this off and we have no chance.
And why should we have to lease bits of our cars anyway? I want to own mine, I don’t want to be perpetually paying out and be at the behest of some company.
When did you change from the horse.
There were no inns with bales of petrol.
And for the working class on minimum wage who cannot afford an EV but still need to travel at often unsociable hours to there place of work ,will we just price them of the road ?
Because Electric cars out way out reach to many on low wages
Another delusional idiot, wake up Anthony. The Electricity is being made from a source that produces lots of pollution. Be it a coal fired power station, one that uses Gas even Nuclear powered stations. The manufacture of solar panel cause the production of lots of very toxic byproducts as does it disposal.
Well if the government wanted alternatives to Petrol and diesel engines they would not have cancelled the electric upgrade to rail services in the north.
As for electric vehicles unless you live in a property with a drive or garage you won’t get a home charge station installed, making electric cars unavailable to some 70% of households.
If you go onto the Greener Journeys website you will find that it’s actually a front for the Bus and Coach industry with every one of the directors employed by either a rail or bus company.
What a surprise a group with a vested interest in restricting the freedom of individuals to travel where they want when they want and how is trying to influence the government on policy. One of the authors Dr David Begg has lots of form in this area.
I agree. It would take least 2 hours for me to commute 23 miles using public transport and the cost would be prohibitive. I also think that it is wrong to say that the treasury ‘have lost’ revenue because duty had been frozen. If more fuel is purchased, doesn’t that mean increased revenue?
Is the fuel duty the ONLY reason that car use had increased? What about population increase, increase in employment, mobility of labor (I think) having to seek employment outside the district we live in.
This looks like a much simplified view of the situation in my opinion.
Living here in N.Ireland the depenacy in using cars for transport is high, in N.I. The price of fuel is above the average price compared to the mainland, the only fuel stations were the prices of fuel remain the same are at Asda but we have also Tesco & Sainsbury owned stations were prices can vary in towns accross N.I eg in one town on the Noth Coast of N.I the price was 3p cheaper than in Belfast how can this be when the distribution depot is in Belfast.fuel tax should be lowered as the motorist is an easy target for taxes.
Of all the supermarkets, Tesco seems to vary its prices according to area. The more affluent, the higher the price. I live in the North West where fuel prices differ by as much as 10p per litre. I haven’t bought fuel in my home town (Southport), for as long as I can remember.
Don’t think any Tesco will give you a good price, they are rip off merchants. They drive the prices down in an area till they have a monopoly and then push the prices up again.
Politicians need their Heads Examined. They screw the public while they even claim Kit Kats on their Expense accounts. Day Light Crooks.
It’s not politicians calling for the rise in fuel duty. It’s some green lobby group.
I quite like the Conservative fuel duty freezes. It was a pain when every labour budget increased fuel duty.
It’s actually a front for the rail and coach industry masquerading as a green group. Presumably just using the name because its trendy and ‘on message’. If you look on their website you will find all directors are also employed by the rail and bus companies.
Totally agree. They are simply legalised thieves. What we pay in taxes is absolutely absurd. Time we fought back. No wonder the high street is on its last legs.
The best solution would be to scrap road tax and include it in the price of fuel. This would immediately solve the problem of tax dodgers and ensure that those doing the most miles pay extra.
I’ve been saying this for years!
Thanks for that suggestion – just when I’ve bought a car which has road tax of £30.00 p.a………
Why increase the price of fuel,we already pay very high prices for our fuel & other motoring taxes, I believe the total taxes we the motorist pay is about 46 billion pounds a year & the total spent on our roads is about 6 to 8 billion & this is only used for motor ways & trunk roads we then pay through our council tax for the local roads the rest goes to general taxation, if the 46 billion were spent on the roads then we would have some of the best roads in the world, do you not think we pay enough already.
I believe when road tax was first introduced it was called the Road Fund Licence. You paid to fund road building and maintenance, it was not a general ‘kitty builder’
To associate the drop in train travel to the fuel tax rate is beyond non-sensical. If we had a reliable fully operational train service that was affordable maybe train travel usage would see growth – do not be so idiotic to associate fuel cost.
Try living in the Southern Rail service catchment area.
Congestion – now being increased by so called ‘smart motorways’ introducing greater and longer lasting ripple effects.
Increased CO2 & NOx – an additional product of congestion. Apparently increase in CO2 also shown to have occurred since the reported reduction of diesel cars.
Increase in traffic – again contribution by ‘smart motorways’ and, as commented elsewhere, distinct lack of viable public transport.
Declining use of public transport – not surprising as evidenced by train timetabling fiasco and lack of viable public transport.
Accidents – these will always happen due to having many independently controlled moving objects. Drivers, whether people or electronic, will make errors some of which will not be corrected before a collision occurs.
Increasing fuel duty – coupled again with state and cost of public transport will probably reduce social mobility and have a generally adverse effect on those who are financially limited.
Has this proposal been put forward by part of the ‘I’m alright Jack’ brigade?
This 8%. increase in tax figure is absurd. Three points here. Due to the increased tax on the current higher fuel prices, the government coffers are already swellling. Secondly, increased fuel costs mean higher prices on everything we buy leading to inflation and more pain for the less affluent, including those who don’t even own a car. Thirdly, in order to encourage the use of public transport, we need to have an effective public transport system in the first place. What we currently have is just a joke.
The recent fuel price increase has nothing at all to do with taxes. It is due to increased cost of a barrel of oil for two reasons. One is the scare to the oil companies because of President Trump antagonising Iran, the other is that oil is sold by the dollar, which has fallen against the pound sterling.
For once we cannot hang this round the neck of our politicians.
Methinks, in your paranoia, you missed the point which is increased VAT goes to the gov. alongside pump prices increase
siarad…allow to me to explain the point about VAT. You will find that 80% of all VAT collected in the UK goes to the EU as it is called ‘own resources tax’. The remaining 20% is held by the UK Treasury as a ‘collection cost’
No wigglylines, you are incorrect. 80% of VAT raised does not go to the EU.
https://fullfact.org/europe/does-uk-pay-fifth-vat-going-eu-budget/
Wigglylines, that is simply untrue. VAT collected by the government is around £120,000,000,000 per year.
Total government revenue is around £744,000,000,000 per year. The total net amount paid to the EU is around £14,000,000,000.
So even if every penny of the UKs payments to the EU came out of VAT income (and from nothng else), it would be around 15% of VAT income.
I do agree that the best argument for Leave would have been the chance to scrap VAT, but that was never on offer – for good reason!
If you’re going to spout rubbish that you’ve heard that is made up ‘facts’, at least get the myth the right way round. The myth is that 20% of VAT collected is sent to the EU.
In point of fact the vat GOING TO THE EU is 1.5%.
For goodness’ sake enough is enough! This conversation is meant to be about a massive rise in the cost of petrol and what it would mean to the average person, NOT where or to whom the money goes! That is another question altogether.
If you believe that, you believe anything! But this is EXACTLY why we must restore responsibility and accountability to Westminster and our elected representatives. The EU is unnecessary additional layers of bureacracy cost and confusion.
Well that’s 20% too much.
The problem is, the EU brings confusion in accountability and causes the very argument ‘where does the VAT go’.
That is exactly why we need to restore clear responsibility to our elected representatives.
The issue is not the recent rises in fuel we all know that is down to stupidity of politician’s, the findings by another think tank is fuel Duty should increase by 8p. Having worked in science and research the funding is from companies that have an interest in the out come. The reports are normally edited to reflect this drug and chemical companies are guilty of this along with political parties.
Why can’t they. Pump oil from north sea direct to oil refiners
Martin, the oil in the North Sea is not suitable to refine into fuel for motorised vehicles
John, the higher the cost of the oil, the more tax the government collects. This is because they collect more VAT and higher tax at the oil well.
The government is now collecting higher taxes due to a higher cost of fuel at the pump…
The price of fuel isn’t the issue John, the discussion is the proposed 8% hike in fuel duty being recommended by the GREEN idiots.
Actually it’s a group representing and wholly staffed by members of the bus rail and coach industry. As Andrew Fitzgerald says above. The research is funded and authored by people with a vested interest in the outcome.
Exactly!
If dollar has fallen against the pound then oil should be cheaper surely
We need to repair our roads both potholes and other road structure issues to make our roads safer to drive on. The government al ready takes a lot of fuel tax and uses I that money for other purposes. Far better to increase income tax for those purposes.
To collect fuel tax then at the Mot check the mileage difference and charge a tax based on mileage. Fir cars under three years old the Mot could be a no charge activity but just for mileage check purposes . This would also reduce Clocking of newer but high mileage cars.
80% tax, what can that tell us, where does this money go to, it certainly is not on road repairs, and as for puting the tax up more,
perhaps the goverment should set up a department for checking the wasted funds on projects that fail,
i look at the justice web sites which makes interesting reading, when cases go to court many have failed and costs run into millions which could be recovered if stopped in the first place,
It is us motorist who have to travel who always cover the costs of mistakes from goverment departments,
what pleasure do we get from motoring, very little,
I go up and down from wales a few times a month on the M4 which at the moment has work going on with diversions in place at night which gives me no pleasure at all why should we pay extra for the pleasure of driving out of our way we should be able to claim this back as the goverment is a service provider ?
why do we pay tax? just for persons to sit on their very big bottoms in air con offices thinking of ways to stop us enjoying life ?
If public transport was more available and cheaper I would certainly consider using it rather than my car, but at the moment this is not possible. Yet again the people that can afford it less are being targeted.
When will any Goverment use any common sense?
A big price increase will lead to a lot more people driving around untaxed and uninsured.
Public transport in some large cities is a nightmare with over 50% of youths carrying weapons,plus drunks,druggies,smelly people and obnoxious idiots.
NO THANKS.
What an incredible statement, “the fuel duty freeze is estimated to have cost the Treasury around £7 billion since its 2011 starting date”.
Two things-
1. It is my effort that created this wealth, not the treasurys. It has cost them nothing. It is my money, not theirs. The freeze just means “they” have not “redistributed” my wealth, not my work load mind, just my wealth, as much as some would like.
2. Fuel duty is a percentage of the total price, a price which is currently rising steeply. So the taxman is getting his cut. How incredibly disingenuous, dishonest to say that he has missed out. He is taking a handsomly increasing amount of “his” money. Except it all comes from us.
Did anyone notice what is happening across great swathes of the country with regard to Europes most expensive and least relaible train services. No doubt that is my fault for using a car instead of supporting the train company shareholders.
Sorry. Is anybody listening?
Too late!
ANY Government that increases the already ridiculous tax on fuel will NOT GET MY VOTE..!!!
Alan, Totally Agree, So like you I will not be voting for any party.
I’m, 79 and our income is little more than the state pension, I wouldn’t be able to afford to run a car unless I repaired it myself which fortunately I am still able to do. We have no other transport option as we live a mile and a half from the main road in rural Dorset, I’m not complaining about that, I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else but every time there is a price increase on anything it reduces the time available before having to request pension credit.
Greener Journeys . Who are they ? Who pays ’em ? What cars do they drive ?
City based, helmet wearing, lycra fetishists.
Google their website. It’s a front for a rail and bus industry group. With a vested interest in getting us out of our cars and using their flawed products. Every director of the group is also works for either a rail or bus franchise. Even the guy that wrote the report isn’t independent.
What an utter and complete load of rubbish.
For decades various governments have refused to invest in infrastructure. There isn’t a viable alternative for a lot of people. Use the current taxes we motorists pay to have good roads! Build more park and ride and generally invest in public transport owned by the people.
The reason a lot of people are not using public transport is simply because it isn’t good enough! Not because of a freeze on fuel duty. How can the idiots who write these things get an audience but sensible normal people are ignored!
public transport does not cater for the journeys we make. changing trains introduces unreliability and massive time costs. Its good for journeys to city centres, useless for anything else.
I live 29 miles from my work, Newarthill to Paisley, and work shifts starting at 7am Mon to Sun given that buses start at 6:05 and only take me to Motherwell and it’s at least 2 trains and a 2 mile walk to get to work and that’s for 8:30 after the earliest I’d have to give my job up as the current 12p a litre rise 120.9 to 132.9 a litr in the last few weeks is crippling me as it is it’s now costing £6 a month more to fill my tank when I’ve not had a pay rise to match it and yet every other price is rocketing up…..these idiots want to come down out of their ivory towers and try living in the real world like the rest of us have to.
A Nissan Leaf electric car be ideal for you. I pay 3 pence per mile for my 65 mile round trip commute and charge up at home in under fours hours. Saved over 2000 quid in fuel since November compared to my Rover 75. Did I also mention I pay no road tax either? Smooth, quiet, accelerates like a hot hatch and batteries guaranteed for 8 years. No briner for me….
I think electric cars should have to pay road tax, you are using a vehicle that uses roads exactly the same as everyone else.
Hybrid or electric car is great if :
A. You can afford one
B. You can get finance
C. You don’t want to go far from home. – the infrastructure just isn’t there yet.
Also, ask the question, how is most electricity generated, by burning fosil fuels and producing more Co2 at the power station instead of the car.
Good for you, however I drive over 160 miles a day in my job, no electric car is capable of doing this
A Tesla is but they cost the earth or you could take two days to do one days work so giving you time to spend recharging you electric car, just goes to show how impractical present electric cars are.
It’s amazing they are forever raising the price of the fuel saying that more people should use public transport but yet they don’t seem to lower the price of public transport.
I live in the country and it costs me almost double the price to get to me nearest city by bus than it does driving my car. No one is going to pay more to travel via public transport when it’s cheaper and faster to take the car.
If the government wants people to use public transport to be greener etc then lower the price and to make it more affordable.
Yet another “brain dead” idea to fleece the overtaxed motorist !
The government should develop a practical public transport infrastructure which makes the decision to change from car to public transport much easier. Once a good public transport option is ready then start to look at tax increases on motorists
The government should look at the transport system in Melbourne Australia as a guide to what works
Its always the motorists that have to be punished we pay too much now what about putting it on flying they add more pollution but they don’t get much tax what about cyclists they still want their own tracks let them pay for them,if they want to cut car use then put some thing in its place that is cheap reliable on time and clean gets you to where you want to be when you need it,NOT LIKE THE TRAINS &BUSES WE CURRENTLY HAVE most expensive in Europe and the most unreliable leave cars alone they are not a luxury and if the greens. ETC don’t like them then tough.
Nottingham with its excellent trams is good. A real incentive to not drive. but still way too expensive, especially for short hops. (£2.20 flat fare)
The trams in Nottingham are completely unreliable. Before I learned to drive I had to use them for part of my commute (my wife would drive us the bulk of the way – public transport all the way from home is a definite non-starter) and it seemed at least twice a week there would be signifcant delays with no explanation given. They were better than the buses (don’t get me started on them) but still pretty useless.
“The static fuel dutyhas led to an increase in traffic”. I wonder if the increasing population might not have had a bigger effect? As to loss of Treasury income. more journeys means more fuel so I cannot belleve that the loss has been as large as suggested.
I agree with all the comments regarding the increase in fuel price will put a lot of people out of work.
It doesnt help that the NMW isnt enough to live on if you have your own place and these jobs are too far away for public transport which takes twice as long to get there. The cost of living keeps going up but NMW still remains the same.
What I cant stand is these so called “green” groups complaining about polution when they also get lifts of their friends or use public transport, even electric cars generate pollution and the power stations that procuces electricity also pollutes the environment. The government should not have introduced free VED for electric and low emmission cars in the first place.
It makes it difficult for small businesses who are already feeling the pinch with everything else rising in price.
Have you seen the big cars gov. ministers travel around in!
A ploy by the rich, being fed up with traffic queues, to rid the roads of poor i.e. unimportant people.
We are paying far to much for our fuel at the pumps?, each and every forecourt[s] within the UK is putting their prices up every 24 + hours? and making more profits out of what was delivered earlier. This 8p is Not Acceptable as we are been Ripped off with per LTR compared with the USA $3.00 per Gallon? and the 8p will become £8.00 extra on our shopping bills?.
I am far from happy with these green wanting to increase as what is already very dear fuel?
“we’re still paying near to eighty percent tax on fuel, excluding VED”
Maybe you should have started with that and then stopped.
How many of the people that produced this report drive and what wages are they on?? They must be on a very good wage before suggesting this as they clearly have far to much money in their bank accounts.
To fill my car just now ( Kia Ceed Diesel) it is costing me £65 a week and that’s at 122.9p per litre. If that was to go by 8p a litre that would then put my fill cost up to £70. Not much on a week by week fill but over a year it’s another £260. I travel 400 miles a week just for work ( going to a single place of work ) never mind anything else.
The costs above to fill is on super market fuel and not shell or jet or any of the big names. If it was shell on their top fuel it would be approx £75 just now with a 8p a litre rise it would be approx £80
The people who suggest these things needs their head reading. Apart from that we have the highest fuel cost in Europe so how can the other countries manage with lower taxes on fuel and yet in Britain we the car drivers are the first people to get hit every time the Goverment want to raise money. I think all MP,a and the PM and their families need to live on the basic wage for 1 year and see what they have to give up and do without in that year then they might see just how hard it is for the normal person in the street.
People do not use public transport because its horrifically expensive and unreliable.Its that simple. Trafic will continue get worse until something is down about transport
Efteling tax needs to increase so long as the proceeds are used to improve road surfaces and thus make them safer for all.
Efteling tax?
And what of those of us who are required to drive as part of our work? I’m in an ‘essential car user’ job and the rate per mile I can claim has not increased in the 14yrs I have been in this role, yet the cost of a ltr of petrol has gone from around 72p to over £1.27! So basically I am again paying for the privilege of working.
This is something you need to take up with your employer. It has nothing to do with fuel duty, pollution and congestion, and everything to do with employees paying the price of Austerity.
No it has to do with government and HMRC not raising the allowance at all despite the significant increase in costs to me for me doing my job.
I use the A3 heading south from London. I tend to cruise at 55-60 mph, getting 50 mpg on the flat. I’m often overtaken by cars doing 70-80 , but yesterday I was hardly overtaken at all as most drivers were cruising like me, no doubt tryiby to reduce their fuel costs. It works !
The motorists are milked enough, anytime the government needs money they choose the motorist because we are the easiest touch. We pay enough.
The bus costs £8 return to & from our city centre.10 miles away (equivalent to 7 litres of petrol at today’s prices). If they want us to use public transport, then drastically lower the cost of using public transport.
Public transport use has dropped because it is in chaos, look at the trains for example people need reliable transport. The increase could also be offset against more road fund license revenue and the increase number of garages use for servicing and repairs creating more jobs more VAT. The roads are in a disgusting condition any increase in fuel tax would be the final nail in a poor government’s coffin if BS was tarmac our roads would be perfect.
I can think of a “greener Journey”,. It involves a very short pier and a very long walk.
Petrol prices goes up less disposable income less spent in shops more jobs lost, the average driver probably spends £1000.00 per year just to keep their cars on the road without fuel. Plus non exsistant public transport outside the city of london and more expensive when there is. Wages low tax high on fuel. This green group needs to get in the real world instead of living in their perfect bubble.
Wheelchair users like myself, depend on their vehicles for their independence. Buses don’t always allow us on as proms are taking up the wheelchair space and trains aren’t always convenient for short journeys. We have no alternatives.