Fuel Protests

[TwoIfBySea]

For those of us who don't have a choice, for those of us who don't live anywhere near a place with public transport that is reliable and frequent. For those of us who don't have a lorry to drive into London to join the protests against the ridiculous cost that will hit the lowest waged and not the section of society it is aimed at and who have enough to see the current fuel price as inconvenient.

There are petitions of which that is one, so while I doubt government will give a hoot it is at least something. There were 59k signatures when I signed earlier and, like the fuel prices it has shot up!

Sorry, I fueled my car today, and am still feeling like I got mugged. Diesel has gone up far more than unleaded yet is more "efficient" so lets have none of that environment talk.

I said gross profit, ST...

Yes, plenty of overheads, but they are selling plenty of litres.

Gross profit is not before overheads. Gross profit is after overheads and before tax.

And FWIW, one of our small local petrol stations was supposed to be closing at the end of March because they were making no money but now (at £1.349 per litre) they have found a new lease of life.

Oh, OK (re gross profit) - what do they call profit before overheads then?

A margin of 10% of gross revenue is not a lot, btw.

margin

margin

Do the supermarkets sell cheap fuel as a loss leader? It was 10p a litre cheaper than the local stations last time I filled up.

I think they do operate at break even, and loss when they are having their 5p per litre promotion.

gross profit

explanation here

If there is one subject that will demonstrate the selfish and narcisstic nature of the British public, it is the price of filling up a chunk of metal. I bet if a petition was started to call on governments to do something about sky high food prices which affects poorer nations more acutely than the rich ones, I think it would be lucky to get 50 signatures. Start a petition about fuel prices.........

The fact that sky high food prices (food is essential, cars are not btw) are affecting the poorer nations much more than the rich Westerners despite the fact that they do not use any where as much oil as we do, demonstrates that the link between high fuel prices and increase in food costs (as the sanctimonious truckers claim) is too simplistic and misleading.

I will reserve my sympathy and concern for those who cannot afford to feed their children at least one meal a day, not those who complain about the cost of filling their vehicles.

Like it or not, we need to change our attitudes towards cars and stop taking our natural resources for granted as well as understand that we do not have a limitless supply to abuse/waste as we wish.

yes, it's so selfish to want to be able to keep the roof over our heads, spook.

and right now, we have to do that by DH working for the pittance he gets here in relation to the cost of living.

and he has to use his car to get there because there is NO public transport.

and no, we can't afford to move.

for one, we have no money. none. in fact, we're £400 into our overdraft till he gets paid on Friday, and then we'll soon be £200 back into it because we have to pay the rent and council tax.

so excuse me for being so 'selfish'.

It's also clearly selfish of elderly people to want to live through the winter, not die because they can't afford to turn the heating on.

There are 2 separate issues here - one, the cost of fuel for transport is affecting food prices in the UK in general; two, the demand for cereal products is affecting UK cereal-related food prices (bread, eggs, meat) but also, and much more, those countries dependant on cereal foods.

Also, biofuel is one of the factors reducing the supply of cereal products available for food.

There was a MN thread recently about film of children in some third world country cooking and eating dust

"It's also clearly selfish of elderly people to want to live through the winter, not die because they can't afford to turn the heating on"

Don't they have a winter fuel allowance for this very purpose.

Expat, no-one is calling you personally selfish - it's a label you could apply to all car drivers in this country, including myself.

No-one needs a car for personal use. The reason public transport is so bad is because everyone has cars. Take the cars away and the public transport will improve. Cause and effect, see.

Plumbers don't need a car in order to carry a chuffing plunger.

"The reason public transport is so bad is because everyone has cars. Take the cars away and the public transport will improve. Cause and effect, see."

Meanwhile, DH and I would both be out of a job until such time as public transport - in different directions, and involving a variety of main roads - was improved...who would pay our bills meanwhile?

'The reason public transport is so bad is because everyone has cars. Take the cars away and the public transport will improve. Cause and effect, see.

Plumbers don't need a car in order to carry a chuffing plunger. '

It doesn't work that way.

Public transport is bad because NO ONE wants to invest the money in it and not turn a good profit.

And so it's expensive and inefficient or non-existent.

And it became that way when it was de-nationalised and seen as a profit-making business, not cause and effect because people started buying and using cars.

Plumbers do need a car to do their job because, and I'm glad you haven't had to call one our recently, their auto is loaded with a lot of tools that are very necessary to unblock pipes both in and out.

In fact, a lot of people out here NEED a car to do a job. Health visitors, nurses, midwives, even the GP. Our GP comes in from far away because that's who they can find, and he's a real lifeline for htis area.

But he'd only be able to be there for a few hours a day - and htis surgery services a large are - if he had to use public transport to get here.

Cars aren't going to go away.

And like it or not, they're very useful and have made it possible for many of our lives to be more convenient. Not just as personal drivers but for the goods and services they bring you far more effectively and cheaper than public transport.

I dont think it will happen overnight. It would be gradual. Car owners will gradually give up their cars because they will no longer be able to run them and at the same time, public transport will slowly start to improve and more people will look for and find local jobs.

I don't think that there will suddenly be 20 million people without cars or jobs - it will be more subtle than that.

Um, nametaken, that will not happen as long as public transport is run as a profit-making enterprise and not an essential service.

Look for local jobs?

Um, okay.

Let me ask you this?

do you live in a rural area?

Now, I mean, not in the 70s or 80s?

but expat, all those professionals you describe used to be able to do their jobs before cars were even invented

GPs, District Nurses, midwives etc have been using cars to get about for decades

No, they didn't, NT.

Because before the car was invented, you just didn't have the services available at all in places like this.

And if you couldn't get to the cottage hospital and a doctor couldn't get out to you on the horse and buggy (and you couldn't pay for it, because there was no NHS), you died.

That's what used to happen.

Let's not go back to those days by penalising a very wise and life-saving existence out of existence. Because horse shit produces methane.

invention, that is.

Anyway, if fuel is rationed, it will be the general public who suffer. The emergency services will have ample fuel I'm sure.

No, they'll cut back their services in places like this, NT.

And across the board, including in cities.

And the burden will be put back on me, you, and the poor and elderly who are better served by healthcare professionals visiting them at home or in their care centre.