Being priced off the road with no alternative form of transport (UK Petrol Prices)

Member Name: yackers1

Product:	UK Petrol Prices
Date:	01/12/08 (214 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: N/A

Disadvantages: Too many to list

It used to be insurance companies that dictated what vehicle I drove. By refusing to insure some cars, and making others so expensive that I just could not afford to insure them, meant that I was forced to drive something that I didn't really want.

Now I have a few more wrinkles and have aged, the insurance companies have relaxed their prices (only a little though) and it is now the government dictating, albeit through indirect taxes, what I can drive through the extortionate fuel prices.

The current average price per litre in America is $1.84 per gallon. This is 37 US cents per litre which equates to 24 pence! The Americans are whinging that they can't afford their gas guzzling cars, and having to sell them and bear the additional cost of being in negative equity of their vehicles.

In the Middle East fuel is even cheaper, where a litre costs just 9 US cents, equating to 6 pence. It is even cheaper in the Basra region because fuel is heavily subsidised by the Government. Here a litre of fuel will cost you approximately 2 pence.

After looking at European fuel prices on the AA website (please note that I only looked at countries in "Euro land") it appears that fuel in the UK is now cheaper than many "Euro land" countries, with the exception of Greece, Slovenia and Spain.

Today's UK price of 89.9p per litre equates to 107.24 Euro cents per litre. The Dutch are currently being stung a whopping 132.8 Euro cents per litre, which makes the UK price seem reasonable.

It is fact that the UK pays a lot for fuel compared to other countries, despite having a supply of crude oil on our door step (i.e. the North Sea). I appreciate the North Sea supplies are being depleted but there is still some more available in the existing wells and more wells are being found on a weekly basis.

The reason for the high prices is the result of the tax imposed by the Government. For every pound spent on fuel approximately 68% is tax, i.e. 68p. The Government are arguing that the use of fossil fuels is destroying the planet (and I agree it is) and that the high prices are there to discourage people from using fuel for environmental reasons. I don't agree with this, the taxes are high to get revenue in the coffers.

The problem is that we are all so dependent on fossil fuels that we can't live without them and the Government are well aware of this so have us over a barrel. It is a case of suffering the cost or not being able to survive.

I would love to get rid of my car since, after my mortgage, it is my highest expense. I don't drive a sports car or a gas guzzler or anything special. My bog standard family run around is a ridiculous expense. Like many people I can't get rid of my car because of where I live. I have to drive to work, I have to drive to the shops, I have to drive everywhere. There is no public transport in my village whatsoever so it is a case of drive to survive.

Whilst we do pay an extortionate amount for fuel there is nothing that we can really do about it.

Some people have tried to do something about the high fuel prices and failed miserably. I remember the fuel strike back in 2001 where a farmer, with the help of a mobile phone, arranged to picket several refineries because fuel had reached an all time high of 80p per litre. The size of the lobby group increased as it got more support, the lorry drivers refused to leave the refinery causing a reduction in the supply of fuel, and the Government nearly cracked as the country almost ground to a halt. The problem was that this group gave up too soon.

Support for the group was divided but there were a lot of people that supported it, however, there were those that didn't support the lobbying due to the effect it had on everyday life. We are so reliant on fuel that any 'blip' in supply and things go in to chaos. People start panic buying leading to further problems (what a greedy and selfish race we are - I remember seeing a woman filling a whole range of containers with petrol (including caravan water bottles and buckets with make shift lids on!) during the first strike to ensure that she had enough).

People have attempted to re-create that strike since then but these have never really had the same effect. They just don't get the support required to be effective. A haulier in Norfolk attempted to arrange a "go slow" on the A47 at rush hour to show "Norfolk's" disgust at the high fuel prices. The organiser was on Anglia TV almost every night for a week before the action, he had stories in the local papers and he appeared on the local radio stations to get support. When the day arrived there were about 50 lorries, (joined by a few cars and taxis), and they did a convoy of around 10 miles. The whole episode was a bit of a laughing stock and it achieved nothing.

In my opinion the only way future strikes are going to work is if the whole country supports it and we go through the hardship required to get the Government to listen. If we bring this country to its knees and the Government believe they will not win the next election then action will be taken. But do you think this is ever going to happen? I don't. The British people have a "they can do it" attitude and many people will not take on the responsibility, leaving it for someone else to do, therefore it never gets done. I suppose we only have ourselves to blame in this respect.

Whilst there are motoring organisations out there, like the AA and RAC, who supposedly put pressure on the Government and then claim a victory every time that the price is reduced do these organisations actually do any good? I don't think so. It should be the supermarkets that claim the credit for driving down the cost of fuel, not the 'specialist' motoring organisations. Whilst they claim they do a lot they appear to actually achieve very little.

As the price of crude oil comes down do we see the likes of Shell, BP and the other oil companies being the first to pass the savings on to the consumer? No. But then if I owned a business and had the ability to effectively price fix (And I thought this practice and cartels were meant to be illegal?) then I don't think I would either. I would want to maximise my profits too.

It is the supermarkets that are driving down the cost of fuel, and Shell, BP and the like are forced to follow suit, whilst whinging that the supermarkets are selling fuel as a loss leader to encourage people in to their stores. I think this is absolute crap. Just look at the profit BP made in their last interim report. We are not talking about millions of pounds we are talking about billions of pounds. I take my hat off to the supermarkets for this and back them 100%. If they are doing it to encourage people in to their stores then it's a good bit of marketing and will work with some people and not with others.

I know that when supermarkets started selling fuel they were accused of putting the small independents out of business. The world of business is "dog eat dog" and you have to match your competitors or you will not survive, as many of the independents found out. These small retailers had it good for many years and when a competitor came along they were not prepared to squeeze their margins to the same extent so they lost out. Whilst many small independents closed down after making a lot of money there are still many about still making money, just not as much as they used to.

In my opinion the supermarkets are what are keeping us on the road. They reduce the price of fuel as the price of crude oil decreases which I think many garages would not do without being forced to follow suit by the supermarkets. Supermarkets may be driving down the cost of fuel for their own reasons and for their own benefit, i.e. to get people in to the stores, but it is great for the consumers.

Summary: The government's way of pricing drivers off the road.