fuel protests

[deanbmw]

well about time too.....nice too see the govenment propaganda machine at it again

http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4224444.stm

lets back the protest all the way and make a difrence

[hembo]

i cannot see it working this time,they literally have us over a barrel

[chesters1]

panic buying at sainsbury in farnham today and threats of fisticuffs by 2 disgruntled 4x4 drivers ,after all they need it the most

[UK-Fishing-Tackle.co.uk]

It will work. You want it to work as well. Fuel is expensive, but I am already having to look at beefing up my websites carriage charges as the couriers are discussing fuel surcharging. If it hits a small company like me it will also hit supermarkets etc.

 

As I've said on a previous post the fact we are paying £1 plus as opposed to 80p is because the petrol companies have added about 6 or 7p to the price of fuel (real cost). The fact is though for every penny the sale price rises, the consumer prices rises by 4p. Hence why some areas have seen rises of 20 to 25p.

 

This means the government COULD if they wanted to, get fuel down to 85p per litre AND the economy would be no worse off than it was last year - or at least thats my understanding (I am fully prepared to stand corrected).

 

The reality is that this extra cash makes up the treasury shortfalls everyone WAS predicting and Brown is therefore penalising motorists to save having to increase income tax and/or national insurance.

 

I've got an old GP125 in the shed (a little suzuki) that hasn't seen the light of day in 4 years (it's a bit of a heap), but it could soon be quite a usable form of transport for visitng people across town....

[Emz]

I hope it does work and its great to see people actually take action against this.

 

At my local garage, petrol is now 102.9p a litre! :mad:

[Tony U]

Yeh yeh its all that nasty Mr Blair's fault and nothing to do with price rises on the global oil market and profiteering by the big oil companies.

Methinks many people are barking up the wrong tree.

[Spur-Hound]

Lets face it Tony U, do they really need all that VAT though, despite what is happening elsewhere...

[UK-Fishing-Tackle.co.uk]

In 2000 the garage used to charge you about 22 to 24p per litre (PLUS TAX making it upto 70 odd pence).

 

In 2005, after a pretty large disaster, my understanding is that the garage charges about 32 to 36p per litre with tax and VAT pushing it up to a quid.

 

Now, for 30p per litre, building an oil rig, getting the stuff out of the ground, barrelling it up, shipping it to the UK, refining the stuff, delivering it to petrol stations - That's a pretty good deal. Yes oil companies make a shitload of money BUT this comes through considerable research, investment AND risk (i.e. mexican gulf will cost a fortune to put right).

 

It is not wrong for companies to make profit, and lets remember, they have to pay a substantial amount of tax for making these profits.

 

The reason petrol is so expensive is because we have over-expenditure on public services that isn't actually doing anything, overexpenditure on immigrants, billions extra poured into the NHS (yet still 1 year for an MRI scan), more people taking benefits through unemployment (including those now registered as 'sick' and unfit to work), new deal benefits, free pushbikes for job seekers, back to work grants, overpayment of tax credits (I could go on). Basically spending plans do not add up (you cannot spend more and receive less - I am not an accountant but can figure that out), so handy extras like this help balance the books - even if only short-lived.

 

Take a look at the following graph (which I assure you is reasonably accurate)

 

http://www.fuellobby.co.uk/facts/index.shtml

 

Notice how we ALL pay the same for (diesel) fuel across Europe (the pink sections) However, we get fckd over for the tax by 20p more than Ireland. The same sort of pattern is CLEARLY evident if you look at petrol prices.

 

I fully support fuel protests. Sod 'em. If the government represent the people they should listen to the people. Hey, a large number of people out there put labour into power - these people will realise (in about ten years) that they'll have to put the Cons back in for 20 to sort the mess out again...

 

[ 13. September 2005, 12:34 AM: Message edited by: UK-Fishing-Tackle.co.uk ]

[Tony U]

UK what are you going to do when supplies run out in the predicted 20 odd years, blame the present government?

Remember it was the cons who brought in the fuel multiplier in the first place under Norman Lamont, as an attempt to cut consumption; by abandoning this, Gordon Brown surely has been listening to the people.

All the current protest is going to do is create panic buying, leading to a further increase in fuel consumption, increasing the profit levels of the oil companies.

Why not have a let's not use fuel week from the consumers and boycott the pumps for a while and use alternative means of transport and hit them ( the Oil Companies), in their pockets for once.

 

[ 13. September 2005, 09:47 AM: Message edited by: Tony U ]

[DavyR]

Jonathan Porritt was talking on the Today programme on R4 this morning about how the era of cheap fuel is over for good. We're just going to have to learn to live with it and stop driving gas-guzzling 4x4s. It's amazing how much gear you can stack into a Punto with the back seats down (and it does 50 mpg on a run).