Why is fuel expencive in the UK?

[TYREMAN]

A bit of a Rant this one!

I saw a program for Kids Bang Goes the theory? it was about why we had to pay so much for fuel here in the UK.

Instead of been half an hour long it should have been 90 seconds long.

It was a good show to be fair so not having a go at the program makers.but it started with fuel in the UK is one of the most expensive places in the world due to the Governments Fuel Duty(tax) at least 60p in every pound spent is duty. So they should have ended the show there and then! i would.

Its time our government put a cap on what they can take in duty,i will be voting by not using a car for everyday use,the fuel the insurance its too much,and i will no longer blindly keep paying out.

Each time the costs go up for the fuel company's its a windfall for the government

[RobTwin]

I was surprised to read recently that on a litre of petrol costing around £1.30, the petrol stations only get 4 to 5p

[TYREMAN]

I was surprised to read recently that on a litre of petrol costing around £1.30, the petrol stations only get 4 to 5p

I thought it was less than that MY mate Steve works at a Texaco Garage in Bolton there are now more people trying to commit crime at the Station as fuel prices go up. Drive aways are quite common now,if Steve or the other Staff do not follow the rules 100% the fuel stolen gets taken out of his bonus,i feel sorry for him he has to be on the ball watching he is sometimes on his own also.The most common on is people walking up filling a fuel can and then walking away.

[steveo]

yep , its £1.41 here today , i read or watched on a documentry or both !! a litre of unleaded only costs 20 or 25 pence to make thats it raw materials over heads the lot , i remember couple a years ago , for ever litre of petrol the service station sold , they made 1p profit ,
the B****** goverment keeps saying its the trouble in the middle east driving up costs they have the audacity to say we introduced a fuel stabliser program to help out motorists , what a load of B*****s , they talk like its nothing to do with them that fuel prices is soo high , when its their fuel duty vat doing it .
there are familys in this country are going with out food , & all the F****** goverment keep doing is giving millions to other countrys

[TYREMAN]

Unless you are on a good wage it is now not worthwhile commuting in a car due to the huge costs.

MY same mate Steve (at Texaco) took redundancy from Royal Mail.

He now works at Texaco payed the mini mun wage,plus a bonus but they never get that as there is always some rule they have not followed so they get out of paying him.

Here is the Crazy thing he is no worse off than he was before because he can now walk to work.HE had to do a 50 mile round trip to Warrington when at Royal Mail

We did the Sums and they were shocking! the extra money he earned at Royal Mail would all be spent on getting there if he was still there.

The Car/The Repairs/Insurance(gone up 40% in one year in Bolton) Tax mot/ and of course the fuel!!!

He has the same money for himself now walking to work local on the minimum wage than he would traveling to a better paid job.

So if they say to someone on the dole,we will give you a job 25 miles away but its shift work you will need a car its the minimum wage from a purley financial point of view they would be not that much better off.

Things have changed! also when we first left school you could afford to buy a car and travel a fair distance to work for a low wage and it was well worth while.I feel sorry now for teenagers 3 to 9k a year on insurance alone

[Charger]

surprised this has come up again, thought no one was interested??

for example only 243, 648 people have signed up here … http://www.fairfueluk.com/

so does that mean that the other 10’s of millions of motorists in the UK are happy with the price of fuel?? it must do

or maybe they are of the opinion that “signing up to some poxy website or emailing your MP won’t make any difference”

well there’s one thing for sure, it won’t make any difference if they don’t do it!!

ok so it’s ONLY a sign-up or a petition or email to an MP, but it’s a start and it is better than NOTHING

i will be voting by not using a car for everyday use

that’s a valiant effort T but I fear you’re playing right into the governments hands as I’m convinced one of their objectives is to price people off of the road in an effort to reduce pollution and meet environmental targets, and not build anymore new roads

in the US the price was $3.77 (about 63p/litre at todays xchg rate) and I was told that there will be ‘problems’ when it reaches $4.00, will the same happen here when it reaches £1.50??

[Dave-R]

i will be voting by not using a car for everyday use,

I haven't "used a car for everyday use" for 6 years now. Can't say I have noticed it having an effect on fuel prices.

[Dave999]

4-5 p per liter to the retailer

before the second world war we had 18000 petrol stations

and we now have about 8000.....

and a few more cars on the road

we can all moan about service stations with nothing for sale to fix your car other than bulbs and oil

but its obvious now why they need all the biscuits and sweets the mark up is better
the margin is better

thay can affors some staff...

we had about 13000 petrol stations when we had the last round of fuel protets

approx double the underground storage at the retailers

explains why the govt got so twitchy a few weeks ago

we have about 3 days worth if the panic buying starts


Dave

[Steve]

I remember driving 5500 miles around the states on my honeymoon in the 90s when fuel was $1.29 a gallon. We spent £180 on fuel for the whole trip over 3 weeks. My mate over there told me he thought fuel was expensive and there would be riots if it hit $2 a gallon!! I filled my Polara and my 406 yesterday...... £200! great, and that wont last me the month! I now cycle to work most days as I cant afford to keep throwing fuel into the cars. Happy though as long as I can still feed the Polara

[AllKiller]

Im saving up to drive to the garage to get some more

[Dave-R]

I now cycle to work most days as I cant afford to keep throwing fuel into the cars.

Me too but I am ashamed to say I am rather a fair weather only cyclist.

When it is raining I tend to use the bus or the Alpha Romeo. The bus costs £3.60. Parking the Alpha costs £4.50. The bike costs nowt and even keeps me fit. Plus I have secure storage at work for it.

The Alpha I have mixed feelings for. It's a fine drivers car and even around town returns nearly 50mpg. Only £30 a year tax too.
But it is costing me £200 a month in payments which kind of defeats the point.....

I should stop being a wus and use the push bike even in the rain.

[TYREMAN]

i will be voting by not using a car for everyday use,

I haven't "used a car for everyday use" for 6 years now. Can't say I have noticed it having an effect on fuel prices.

At least you are not wasting money and staying fit at the same time

I did not use a car most of the time also for work in the last 5 years.

Do not forget there were Riots last year,they try and Bananarama! under the carpet like it did not happen but more things like that to come.

For the unskilled teenager what future do they have? if they are lucky a Job in McDonalds WOW! or a part time Job at the local supermarket.
Not enough to be able to afford there first car and house no chance.
Each week here in the NW more Shops seem to be shutting,if you go to Bolton/Wigan/ Blackpool its starting to look very rough! lots of places Shut down.The fuel prices are not helping things.

Its no suprised however,why go to a town centre and pay for parking and the place looks like a ghost town but full of traffic wardens when you can go to your Local Tesco/ASDA/Sainsburys park for free for two hours.

[Steve]

I manage to cycle all year round though its hard work on cold wet winter mornings/ nights. I bought a nice low mileage 99 peugeot 406 diesel from a mate of mine for a grand about 3 years ago. Its great, 45mpg, pulls caravan fine and is comfy etc so can justify a bit of fuel in the Dodge

[TYREMAN]

surprised this has come up again, thought no one was interested??

for example only 243, 648 people have signed up here … http://www.fairfueluk.com/

so does that mean that the other 10’s of millions of motorists in the UK are happy with the price of fuel?? it must do

or maybe they are of the opinion that “signing up to some poxy website or emailing your MP won’t make any difference”

well there’s one thing for sure, it won’t make any difference if they don’t do it!!

ok so it’s ONLY a sign-up or a petition or email to an MP, but it’s a start and it is better than NOTHING

i will be voting by not using a car for everyday use

that’s a valiant effort T but I fear you’re playing right into the governments hands as I’m convinced one of their objectives is to price people off of the road in an effort to reduce pollution and meet environmental targets, and not build anymore new roads

in the US the price was $3.77 (about 63p/litre at todays xchg rate) and I was told that there will be ‘problems’ when it reaches $4.00, will the same happen here when it reaches £1.50??

Sighned up to it now Simon

I do not think they want to price us of the road,its just an easy option for them to earn Duty.The way things are going they will have no need to build new roads as more people will be out of work no jobs to so a reduction in traffic.

[Dave81]

I've got to be honest and cannot understand why we dont have the same as the states.......Pay before you pump. That would stop the bilking of fuel overnight.

Side issue would be a huge rise in the amount of thefts of fuel siphoned from cars parked on drives etc.

Why is it so expensive, because its the UK.........