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.

Thats not true Alouiseq - 3 days ago a barrel was $86.5 and today (so yesterdays' trading) it is 85.9 - where are you getting those figures from?

Dh, he trades it.

He's not talking about crude though - he might be talking about the refined products - ie petrol or diesel but not oil - and those are measured in dollars per ton anyway...

[sticks tongue out]

On the 15th it was 87.10 on the 26th it was $85.56 and on the 28th (today) it traded 81.30.

June spot futures price. US Light Crude (WTI)

Yesterday the low was 81.67 Per barrel

right back atcha

Current price $83.15

But that aint 3 days then is it thats 13...[sigh] and the retailers work on yesterdays finish numbers iyswim not todays.

Leaving this aside - forecourts dont buy or sell oil, they are dealing with the refined product at a very different price - it is a factor but isnt the only one...

If I do much more of this am going to out myself and have to namechange again sigh...and I liked this one...

Keep your name!

We are coming from different perspectives on it and I got the days wrong!

I was made redundant from my job up the road, which I had expensively relocated for. I am disabled and using 'public' transport around here on my current 70 miles each way work route means a 20 minute cycle ride each way at each end to and from the rail station (which I can't do, so a £10 taxi fare each way then, to and from the station), then a 90 minute journey on a train stopping at all stations, so a total of 2 hours 50 minutes a day. The train is packed and I can't stand or walk around looking for a seat, so I would need a first class ticket at £50 to avoid the kind of pain and distress I experienced when doing this experimentally the first time. Realistically I would be spending £90 a day to commute the 70 miles.

Or I could get the bus to the station but that would involve allowing an hour each way for the bus at this end (because they are routed in a funny way around a park and ride and a hospital, where I wouldn't need to go, instead of directly) and 30 minutes for the bus each way at the work end (as it tours housing estates), plus the 90 minute journey, so a commute of 4.5 hours daily and a spend of £65-ish.

Therefore I spend £75-£100 a week on petrol (highest rate of mobility part of DLA £60 a week), more sometimes, and spend half my life in the car, trying not to crash the thing with tiredness. At the end of the drive I roll out of it in pain as my joints have all gone funny.

Consequently I get really angry about things like letters being put in my pigeonhole at work telling me I should be cycling in, and car sharing, and saving the planet, and putting up my parking charges to discourage me from parking on campus, because I have no ruddy choice!

Politicians should try walking in my moccasins for a few miles and then think more carefully about integrated transport instead of kicking people like me up the arse the whole time.

I have lived in the US for five years now and am shocked at the cost to fill up a car when back in the UK.

While the roads here in New Jersey are not great (the extremes of weather result in pot holes which is why most people drive SUVs) and car insurance is an eye watering $1800 a year for a vw golf, it does only cost me $25 to fill up my car.

This lower cost has made running a car affordable and allowed me to take jobs that are not near public transportation. When I worked in Manhattan and Jersey City I always took the train and continue to use public transport when going into the city or Hoboken. I also take the train when visiting friends who live on the Jersey shore. I could drive but choose not to as the train is only $30 for a return ticket (with no restrictions on it).

As a student of Economics I was always marked down on essays when I disagreed with sin taxes. It is my belief that if something such as driving a car is a sin, then provide a good alternative and people will adjust their behaviour.

I do believe that the government should start their own transportation service (buses, trams and trains) and that the cost should be free to the public (doesn't the government already own railtrack?). The privatized companies could then compete by offering food, tables on trains to work on and other extras such as wifi.