A "don't use your car" day would be better.

Not buying fuel for a day will not make any impact on the powers that be at all.

The fuel distribution business is completely sewn up by the big oil companies who operate the refineries. Firms like Shell esso and BP are only interested in retailing fuel throught their own franchised outlets, where they can be assured of sales of 10's of thousands of litres per week.

I live in a rural area. The nearest franchised fuel station is 30 miles way. There are several local garages that supply fuel, bit only at a price. I paid 1.38 for petrol and 1.45 for diesel this week. Ther reason? As the big boys wont sell to independent retailers, the garages have to buy their supplies from the small independent oil companies. They buy their oil from the big boys and then have the bugbear of delivering it in small quantities ot the rural garages. This costs, and by the time it reaches us, the price is astronimical. My one local garage owner told me that he is paying his supplier more per litre than Asda in Wrexham are charging retail (currently 1.28 per litre)

The only effective way of making a protest is to do what happened several years ago when the price of petrol looked like going to £1.00 per gallon (happy days!) The protesters, following the example of the French, blockaded the oil terminals and refineries, preventing the big boys getting the fuel off their premises. That nearly brought commerce to its' knees and the government of the day were seriously considering using emergency powers to get things moving again.

The trouble is, we are to phlegmatic for our own good. we have a tradition of simply rolling over and then moaning about being shafted.

i wonder if there is anyone out there with the guts and energy to organise another blockade.

one day wont make a difference as we keep saying we need our cars to get to work etc so its a none starter its been tried before pointless subject to be honest

Stabiliser thing is tax related?

Oil costs go up, tax goes down. oil costs go down, tax goes up.

Its then up to the petrol stations to charge what they want.

if we want the government to stand down on it then there needs to be at least a week where hundreds of thousands of people dont move there cars at all then they may just notice how much they are losing in taxes and do something to entice people to drive there cars again personally though I've just filled up this morning and was punished with a flat tyre lol i guess karma does catch up every now and then

I work at a petrol station, and its tough cos people keep coming in complaining and directing blame at us!? all garages hands are tied, theres literally nothing a garage can do.

that's bullshit tho

i thought it was just the bp i go into on the way to work that had put their prices up half way through the day on buget day only to bring them back down to the price they were already at on the evening to make it look like they had passed on the cut. i was still bitching about it to any one that would listen the next day when i picked up the paper and found this garage was fair from the only one to do it.

and if their hands are tied then how come all BP garages (or any other chain) don't charge a fixed rates at the pump? it's the garage owners that decide hoe much they can get away with putting on top of the price for profit. it's all well and good saying they only make (for example) 4p on every litre, but how many litres do they sell a day?

Its really not bullshit mate i assure you, granted there may have been some exaggeration on my part by saying "ALL garages hands are tied," however as mentioned there isnt a great deal of profit on the fuel sold where i work, my boss is very open about the profits made with all aspects of the garage, however the bulk of it is all on the groceries and other services available to the customers.

I dont dispute the fact that garages prices are controlled by the owners however the profits on fuel really are minimal, meaning the odd couple of pence on a litre applied by the owners isnt making a lot of difference to thier profits, and i will stress this is SOME garages not all.

It bloody well is bullshit,i worked in a petrol station in the 90s and i used to drive around taking the prices of other stations so we could decide how much to charge! We usually charged the maximum i found elsewhere,as we were well positioned to do so.

The more the garages charge,the more their neighbouring ones do,the more oil costs go up in expectation. And the more tax we pay. So the more greedy garages really haven't helped.

Its like the vast amounts of money councils waste - they have to,else they dont get so much funding next year. Viscous circle,and moaning is all we do about it.

April Fool!!!

Well sod this idea off for a bad one, I'm off to fill my car up for the total cost of £130.9, which seems to be cheaper than 90% of places =D

It won't work. I keep saying to people, the only way to bring the costs down is if a huge majority of the population stopped using all vehicles so no public transport etc for at least a week. People wouldn't be able to make it to work, and within a week businesses would be screaming at the government to cut the price of fuel as they'd be losing stupidly large amounts of cash.

Matt

Sorry to burst your bubble mate but i rode past a petrol station earlier and there was queues of traffic coming out of it

I think reverse psychology is the best plan of attack, for 1 working week (5 days) every one do as the government are saying they want us to do and use public transport. The whole network would grind to a halt, businesses would loose billions in lost productivity, the government would loose billions in lost taxes and it would show just how unrealistic and unworkable the idea forcing cars off the road is.

It would also be long enough for the oil companies to notice a massive drop in profits and have to drop the prices to shift it, win win.

google james may fuel protest for one of the best ideas which would actually make the powers that be sit up and listen

I think reverse psychology is the best plan of attack, for 1 working week (5 days) every one do as the government are saying they want us to do and use public transport. The whole network would grind to a halt, businesses would loose billions in lost productivity, the government would loose billions in lost taxes and it would show just how unrealistic and unworkable the idea forcing cars off the road is.

It would also be long enough for the oil companies to notice a massive drop in profits and have to drop the prices to shift it, win win.

Awesome idea. but that would also make me late for work 4 out of 5 days!

Also, driving through wales later... thinking about traveling through Wrexham if asda there is 1.28!!!! i've not seen any petty station round my area below 1.32 yet.

now that is the best and only option we have at making them fat cats listen

james may has it in one

Edited 1 April, 201115 yr by m4ttyf

anyone hear the news about that petrol station that mistakedly advertised fuel at 12.9P a litre for about 2 hours?

People were filling there cars up for a fiver

It would take me all day,and cost a fortune,for me to get to work via public transport. It would involve buses,a coach,and a taxi.

Id still join in,though.

google james may fuel protest for one of the best ideas which would actually make the powers that be sit up and listen

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/column...el-protest.html

Theres the link, hes right and just to think this is when fuel was 81P a litre back then its crazy.

Fucking awesome idea

Chance of it happening? ZERO

It is a fantastic idea.. I would totally do it! Protesting outside fuel stations is, sadly, a waste of time.. but everyone striking would be amazing.. obviously not everyone would do it, but if the majority did it would still be rad

fuck striking, i need my wages to survive

but i'd happily leave the car parked up for a week and work the 5 miles to work

I'm sure the cost of a barrel of oil now isnt to far from what it was four years ago so Tax doesnt seem to be the only issue, as the cost of a barrel of oil rises so does the cost of fuel but when the cost of oil drops the retailer doesnt drop the price of its fuel,

So Surely the logical thing to do would be to refuse to buy from somewhere like BP for a week or a month, so that they have to drop their prices to get the custom and inturn the other garages would have to follow when people go back to using them?

Hardest part would be organising it though

"This is Margaret Thatcher's market forces approach at its crudest: if something is too expensive, you don't buy it. Then the price will fall as surely as the sun comes up."

very true

One day won't do nothing. Yes the goverment need money to pay this huge bill but stop moaning! If you can't afford to fill your 2.8 monster or what ever you drive cut down on stuff you dont need! We all need our card for work to feed our family's and pay the bills. If the government stopped being so soft on immigrants and spent money on the things that are needed Britain would be a better place. As much as your pissed with the fuel prices everyone in the same boat.

So, i was shocked to see a petrol station set at 144p for petrol, and 148p for diesel over the weekend.

Jesus. Needless to say a tenner didn't even get me as far as the next pump!