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Fuel prices .... Blair to blame!

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
I can understand that Katrina may have knocked out some of the US oil refineries which would push up the price of fuel for the rest of the world ... but seeing that our fuel prices in the UK have skyrocketed ever since that bastard Blair took us into a war with Iraq, I think that he OWES us to cut the government duty on fuel to bring the cost per litre down to a more acceptable level. What do you think?
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    The cost of oil came down after the Iraq war. At the beginning of the year it was 76p a litre at the local garage.

    The New Labour government didn't create the Fuel Tax Escalator, that dubious delight goes to the Conservative party. Who, incidentally, also started charging VAT on fuel used to heat homes.

    The tax rate does need to be lowered on fuel, but at the same time, maybe this will encourage people who don't need to drive that perhaps the train or the bus is a viable alternative for sole-person journeys.

    The problem is, as always, that the rural poor are being left high and dry because of the ridiculous tax levels. Over a quarter of a week's salary is going on travelling to work for many rural workers, and that is nothing short of a national disgrace.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Click here

    Please note the fifth slide.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Fiend_85 wrote:
    Click here

    Please note the fifth slide.
    That's not a surprise, actually.

    Stagecoach have to cream off their profits, so they do. Which is why my £8 bus ticket has gone up by a quid in three months.

    Although words can't describe how much I despise Brian Souter, homophobe extraordinaire.

    I find it's still cheaper for me to go to work by train than it is by car. Although I have a 1/3 railcard discount- if I didn't, the car would be far cheaper.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Hmm tricky one.

    Good job we are plundering Iraq or we could have been in a bit of a mess, eh?
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Fiend_85 wrote:
    Click here

    Please note the fifth slide.

    Some very interesting statistics there:

    - For instance, whilst the State undoubtedly takes be biggest chunk of the pie, the oil companies themselves take a very healthy portion for themselves. Something to bear in mind the next time they claim the high price of petrol has nothing to do with them. Especially after they keep posting profits that can only be described as obscene.

    - Also interesting to see that Britain does not have, as many claim, the most expensive petrol in the world. It's not even the most expensive in Europe.

    - However Britain scores really badly in how much of those revenues are spent on improving the roads and public transport. That's nothing short of a disgrace actually

    - Funny though to see that fuel tax has actually come down under Labour, despite people's perceptions
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I'm suprised more people haven't started using vegetable oil. (Diesel engines of course)
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Of course Public Transport is more expensive, it's why people use cars. Well that and the fact that it isn't convenient either.

    And don't get me started on Stagecoach today, fuckers charging kids adult rates at the only times of the day that they will travel... costs me a fortune to get my kid to school...
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    And don't get me started on Stagecoach today, fuckers charging kids adult rates at the only times of the day that they will travel... costs me a fortune to get my kid to school...

    Sounds about right for Mr Souter.

    Still, you should rest assured that your hard-earned money is being invested wisely in campaigns of targeted homophobia.

    Of course:
    We have a right to nurture our children with our own values and beliefs.

    Presumably these beliefs don't include being able to afford to get to work in a morning.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Aladdin wrote:
    - For instance, whilst the State undoubtedly takes be biggest chunk of the pie, the oil companies themselves take a very healthy portion for themselves.

    The other interesting part is how the price at the pump has increased already.

    When you consider the delay between the oil being drawn and converted to petrol etc then the fuel at the pump is several weeks old - effectively this mean that the cost to the oil companies was at the lower rate.
    - Funny though to see that fuel tax has actually come down under Labour, despite people's perceptions

    Since when has reality ever been an issue for the fuel protestors?
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    fuel tax increases are twice a year technically

    the price increases that make things absurd are the retailers upping prices cause of higher oil prices

    the recent prices since katrina are simply bnecause america cant live without cheap oil, thats why uk prices rise every american 'driving season' so people in the USA get their always cheap petrol - we subsidise it basically
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Oil is a finite resource. The US is in debt subsidising their fuel. Do qwe want that here. No. Instead pressure the governement to make Public transport cheaper and better
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Kermit wrote:
    Sounds about right for Mr Souter.

    Indeed, with the added joy of living in a rural area with no tube trains, no train station within three miles and no competitor bus company. No surprise that I cannot sympathise with London residents when they complain about their services.

    The only other choice I have is to take him to school myself, thus adding my car to the throng heading into the town already (hardly surprising given the poor public transport) on roads clogged because of the traffic "calming" measures (note, not driver calming) which the local council have seen fit to include, at my cost.
    Still, you should rest assured that your hard-earned money is being invested wisely in campaigns of targeted homophobia.

    ...
    Presumably these beliefs don't include being able to afford to get to work in a morning.

    Woo hoo, sound investment there then :rolleyes:
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Of course Public Transport is more expensive, it's why people use cars. Well that and the fact that it isn't convenient either.

    ..


    No.

    Public transport is cheaper, but costs are rising quicker.........
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    On a note about oil comapnies I have read (but not confirmed I admit) that oil comapnies don't actually make that much profit from petrol. Thier vast profits are generated form other areas i beleive.

    Certainly my girlfriend used to work at a petrol stattion and her boss claimed that he made very little profit on the petrol, more from the shop etc
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Petrol stations probably don't. They are run as franchises and the owners make a few pence per litre sold.

    The oil companies themselves though do make literally obscene amounts of profit. I'd be interested to see a breakdown of profits now that you mention they get dividends from areas other than oil... But I suspect companies such as Shell and BP do make most of their profits from the sale of oil.

    Last year Shell and BP made about $17bn profits each- that's £1m per hour

    Nice sum if you can get it.
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    SkiveSkive Posts: 15,286 Skive's The Limit
    Braineater wrote:
    I'm suprised more people haven't started using vegetable oil. (Diesel engines of course)


    Because it makes it run like a cunt.
    When I was greenkeeper I used to go in at weekends and fill up with cherry. For almost two years I spent hardly anything on fuel. :D
    Weekender Offender 
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Fuel is too expensive, if the government wasn’t as hideously wasteful with our money we wouldn’t need to be ripped off each time we get in our cars. Public transport simply isn’t a possibility for many people, if you live outside of a big town or city public transport is more often than not a joke. If the government halved the amount of duty on petrol a surge in usage would be unlikely, especially if the reduction was gradual.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Aladdin wrote:
    Petrol stations probably don't. They are run as franchises and the owners make a few pence per litre sold.

    The oil companies themselves though do make literally obscene amounts of profit. I'd be interested to see a breakdown of profits now that you mention they get dividends from areas other than oil... But I suspect companies such as Shell and BP do make most of their profits from the sale of oil.

    Last year Shell and BP made about $17bn profits each- that's £1m per hour

    Nice sum if you can get it.

    Yeah I am sure they get most of their profits from oil, but I beleuve not from petrol, considering that oil is used for many things other than petrol..........
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I'm sure I read that one of the big petroleum companies own the patents to some alternative fuels. Apparently they ploughed money into researching it so they could get the patent and stop anybody developing it. Can't remember where I read it though.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Fuel is too expensive, if the government wasn’t as hideously wasteful with our money we wouldn’t need to be ripped off each time we get in our cars. Public transport simply isn’t a possibility for many people, if you live outside of a big town or city public transport is more often than not a joke. If the government halved the amount of duty on petrol a surge in usage would be unlikely, especially if the reduction was gradual.

    You seriously think halving duty on fuel would be a good idea?! Where do you suppose that loss of revenue is going to be regained from. Something else will go up.

    It's a fact that oil is going to get more expensive as it is a limited resource and we keep using more of it up.

    Anybody recieved the idea yet about people boycotting BP and Shell? Somebody thought of the idea of just buying petrol at other garages forcing the big two to drop their prices. Found it in my spam filter other day.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    its £1 a litre now at the little garage at the bottom of my road
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    One thing's for sure, they'd need to hurry up in finding a cheap, viable alternative to oil soon because it's gonna to run out sooner than people think. I'd give it 40 years at the most.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    turlough wrote:
    One thing's for sure, they'd need to hurry up in finding a cheap, viable alternative to oil soon because it's gonna to run out sooner than people think. I'd give it 40 years at the most.

    bearing in mind they have been saying that for how long? There are alternatives but there is a huge amount of money invested in oil.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Anybody recieved the idea yet about people boycotting BP and Shell? Somebody thought of the idea of just buying petrol at other garages forcing the big two to drop their prices. Found it in my spam filter other day.
    That's utter nonsense of course. For it to even work in theory you'd need the compliance of a large proportion of drivers and given the nature of forecourt franchises (and the fact that the supermarkets get their supply from the same refineries) it just wouldn't work.

    Personally I'd rather the massive profits made by the oil companies stayed in the UK (by buying from Shell and BP) than went abroad (TotalFinaElf, Esso, Jet).

    Supermarket petrol is the dregs of the barrel and I'd never buy the stuff.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Kentish wrote:
    That's utter nonsense of course. For it to even work in theory you'd need the compliance of a large proportion of drivers and given the nature of forecourt franchises (and the fact that the supermarkets get their supply from the same refineries) it just wouldn't work.

    Personally I'd rather the massive profits made by the oil companies stayed in the UK (by buying from Shell and BP) than went abroad (TotalFinaElf, Esso, Jet).

    Supermarket petrol is the dregs of the barrel and I'd never buy the stuff.

    Well yeah I worked that out myself just asking if people had recieved the email. Also tries to show some stats that in a week three hundred million people will be reached. Thats what made me laugh the most. Be a clever trick to read 300,000,000 UK residents.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Kentish wrote:
    Supermarket petrol is the dregs of the barrel and I'd never buy the stuff.

    What's wrong with supermarket petrol? Tesco is always the cheapest round here, you can sometimes get coupons for 5p off per litre if you spend so much in Tesco and you also get clubcard points. :D
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    What's wrong with supermarket petrol?

    Nothing, UK petrol is homogenous. There might be variations in additives, though.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    minimi38 wrote:
    Nothing, UK petrol is homogenous. There might be variations in additives, though.
    Indeed. For example, Shell and Texaco have a higher detergent level in their unleaded, which makes it better for the engine.

    Supermarket petrol is just the simple product, and is cheap because they just buy bulk quantities of spare capacity from the refineries. It's cheaper for a reason.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Whatever you do, avoid filling up at Esso at all costs. That company truly is the spawn of the devil.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I love the people they interview on the tv, there was one today complaining that they cant run 2 cars while on benefits. People need to rediscover their legs
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