Petrol crisis, I want to protest to the Govt!

[Alouiseg]

It's horrendously expensive yet all the venom is directed at the oil companies.

They are not to blame, it is the Government and their ridiculous fuel escalator which means we pay 70 pence in the pound to them on Petrol.

I want to protest and I think they would take notice of us. It could be a deal breaker at the election.

Obviously all Green's look away now. This is aimed at car drivers primarily but inflation will be skewed by the inordinate cost of fuel which of course gets passed on to consumers of everything.

Fancy a March????

Disclaimer:-This thread was inspired by a thread.

But maybe choosing to live where you do is a luxury.

I dont live in London but in a small city a long way away. Essex has loads more trains than where I live.

Disclaimer: I used to trade petrol/diesel for a living. Bad Beta.

It's not a bloody luxury we were both born and bred within the area and have chosen to stay here and contribute to the local economy.

Since when is it a luxury to stay near to your home town,parents, friends, schools!!!

I'm actually astounded! If we were unemployed and staying put to be stubborn you might have a point.

I am thinking aloud tbh. I could say that I need a car because of where I live ( I did above and on the other thread). But I have chosen to live in a very cute cottage with big garden in a stunning location. I could choose to live in a town on a bus route. I could choose to live somewhere cheaper so I could afford my petrol. I could even live somewhere cheaper and closer to work and on a bus route - but choose not to.

Alouise your choice although understandable is still a choice.

The hillsarealive sounds rural, so perhaps it is a luxury place to live (or perhaps she farms or something and needs to be there)

I dont live somewhere rural, there is public transport, train to london are good but dh works more local than that, buses serve hospital and town centre well (for elderly bus pass users) but dont go to surrounding towns. His 25min car journey would run into approx 2 hours on the bus and cost about an hour wage.

So between 3-4 hours extra added onto a working day, without considering when he has to go in early (bus prob not even running then) and loosing and hours wage on fares. It just wouldnt be worth it.

betadad I knew you were a trader, i can smell them you know. IPE??

Farks sake people, why is where you live a luxury but wearing a veil a 'right'

Some upside down logic going on here.

I haven't mentioned a veil.

Surely for some people where they live is a luxury. I know it is for us and one we are very grateful for.

I spend about £8,ooo per week on diesel. (have a small haulage company but I'm not a hairy-handed trucker i promise )

When I started 7 years ago, diesel was about 60p per litre now it's over £1 (ex VAT)

I'm not sure how many more price increases our business can stand

You havn't and I apologise but i'm ranting on another thread.

What I should have said instead is if everyone who lives in a rural area moved to the cities and large towns with good infrastructure and public transport (is there such a place?) the cities couldn't cope with the volume and the rural areas would collapse.

Even in London public transport is rubbish, unreliable, dirty, unhygienic and old so why the hell should we use it anyway?

Cut the tax on fuel, be reasonable Gordon!

Alouiseq - no not IPE.

I was way more reprehensible than that.

I did check Alouise if I had mentioned a veil as we were discussing this earlier at home

I agree that cities would not collapse. Although I would say that most of us who live somewhere rural choose to do so and would not want to live in a city. ( The exception being London - I could not afford to live there and would really like to)

I am just trying to be honest I guess. I am always moaning about our petrol costs but we did choose to live so far away. So it does seem a rather unfair moan.

may your memories keep you wam

warm rogue keyboard (lies, damn LIES)

To be serious for a moment.

The current price of CO2 in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme would justify a ptrol tax of just 10p per litre.

A fairer system would be to tax cogestion on motorways and A roads but reduce the petrol tax so people who depend on a car who live in remote places are not penalised.

"It's not a bloody luxury we were both born and bred within the area and have chosen to stay here and contribute to the local economy. "

So you chose.

Please don't misunderstand me. I sympathise. My parents live in the country and in my ideal life so would I. But we don't. We can walk to everywhere we have to - we have car but for us it is a luxury, for the trips that feet can't manage and public transport isn't up to.

If there is a finite supply of petrol, and if it us causing environmental damage, we may all need to rethink. ANd that might mean living within walking distance of schools/work/shops.

What is the other long-term alternative? What do you think should happen?

i think orm is right. petrol should be very expensive to all except essential services,ambulance,fire,public transport etc.
Motoring ,roads,traffic,the car is king,attitude is having a terrible effect on our society.
disclaimer : i am v.dark green, hate cars, and live a very consrtricted & frugal life. but its luxury compared to most of the world.

I agree Orm, maybe in the future we wil all live much closer to where we work. I would love to be able to live in the village I work in.

Good, no one is serious about it!

No one wants to protest either. Except me.

The price of oil itself is lowish but kept artificially high by the amount of time it's spending being stored on boats!

It's not the price of crude that concerns me but the tax that is slapped on it. I'v ehad enough frankly.

We live in the countryside and I work locally,the girls catch the school bus.But although the furthest away from home I work is 6 miles,it wouldn't be doable without a car.I visit probably two customers a day and take heavy tools and equipment,so there is no way I could get everything between villages on a bus,even assuming that there was a bus to catch in the first place,and manage to fit in 6 hours work a day.I do bike down to the next village to do my watering in the evening,but I can't take tools on a bike.

I'm fortunate that I can claim my petrol as a business expense,but it is a real shocker adding up the receipts come tax return time.I can see a lot of people being forced out of business if prices keep going up.

Aloiuseg - what is your solution then? Long-term I mean. Assuming that fossil fuels won't last forever. And that we do have some responsibility for the state of our environment. I don't consider myself 'green' but I do worry that people aren't facing up to the inevitable and IMO fretting about the cost of fuel is like pissing on a volcano.

Sadly I do think the only way to make the majority of people adjust their behaviour is to hit their pockets.

But how on earth would you ration petrol according to where people live. I suppose you could have an allowance according to your postcode but it would become so complicated. As a working woman I need more petrol than my neighbours who don't work.