What can be done to stop the heavy increase on petrol/diesel thats ripping motorists off?

Question

if britain stuck together like the french could we make the goverment do something to help the normal hard working people travel back and forth to work instead of takin it off us with heavy tax on fuel

Answer 1

Thats ok for you to say Rockchiq, I'm a nurse and where I live I would have to travel at least 15 miles to go anywhere to work.  Public transport is not an option due to starting and finishing times eg 7am starts, 1030pm finishes.

As for the previous comment about the BNP, its nothing to do with race or Britishness.  So what if I'm a white, UK born, working woman?  

Fuel, whether is is for travel, heating, cooking, whatever should be reasonably priced so EVERYONE can afford it.  Otherwise pay increases in line with cost of living should be the law rather than the meagre pay awards we all get these days.

Basically I don't know what needs to be done to reduce the price of petrol.  Personally I blame the government, its all tax if other countries can have cheaper petrol prices, why not us??

Answer 2

If motorists decided to protest against high fuel prices en masse, and stopped buying it, the government would have such a tax shortfall, they might have to reduce the tax.  If there are a lot of cars off the road, people wouldn't have to pay their car tax either.  This may also have the effect of getting rid of those TV ads for "cheaper car insurance", which seems to be every other ad on TV.  All these reasons, along with the positive effect on pollution can only be good!  Come on motorists - walking is good for you.

Answer 3

We need to educate the people that investors , oil companies and even dwindling reserves are not to blame.

Supply and demand is certainly a contributory factor,yet Britain pays more at the pump than any other country despite paying the same per barrel to import.

USA still only pays half of what Britain pays at the pump.

The real blame lies with Gordon Brown,raking in billions in extra fuel taxes on the back of rising costs of  crude.

Is he trying to fill the economic black holes created during his time as Chancellor?

Is the revenue being spent on improving our roads?

Or maybe the millions of unemployed immigrants "enriching our culture"?

edit@ Katie.

Obviously the government green spin wasnt wasted on you.

Fortunately for you,you obviously dont need a car to get to your workplace.Public transport where you are,arrives on time and with low price fares,rushes you to the main entrance,in time for coffee before work starts.

In reality Katie,many of us simply couldnt continue in our jobs without personal transport,right here ,right now.

New Labour knows this and uses  green issues as justification for excessive fuel tax.

If New Labour hadnt invited millions of immigrants into the country,there would tn be a fuel crisis here.Each persons existance generates fuel consumption.Now we all have to pay

for Blair/Browns incompetency.

Answer 4

buy a bicycle it dont take gas otherwise do  what we do ***** and pay what else can you do

Answer 5

I have been told by a worker in the oil industry, that the Main Distributors for petrol and Diesel in britain are BP and ESSO. They refine it and distribute it. They are the 2 companies that have decided the price of fuel at the pumps. They are the ones with their own oil fields. So, if all drivers stopped buying fuel at their garages, this guy estimates that within a week, they would have to reduce the price of their fuel. and he is quite an expert in this field.

Answer 6

theres nothing what we can do to be honest appart of the lorry driver protesting by driveing down the motorways really slow and blocking the fuel stations up so the lorrys cant get out to make any deliverys thats the only way we can do it , then the goverment will be loseing out on money and they would be makeing england come to a stand still if you can remember back 3 or 4 years ago the goverment had to bring in the army to deliver petrol to the petrol stations and it worked

Answer 7

Very little really unless the government decides to reduce the tax on fuel in order to enhance their popularity with the electorate. I only wish the global demand for fuel would fall and perhaps the price of oil would fall. In the meantime oil producers and the fuel companies are feathering their nests at our expense.

Answer 8

I agree with a number of posters, but one of the real reasons that oil has increased as much so quickly is NOT the Labour Government, but Tory backed speculators who have had their "fingers burnt" due to the poor returns on stock markets, are now speculating on the price of oil increasing to reap them maximum profits with minimum effort, and who suffers because of these parasites?? US. The motorist. Enough is enough.

Answer 9

The only way we could make people think is to all stop buying fuel,but not enough people stand up and do it.

The only way is to take action.

What would the government do if all the country was out the job and claiming benefits,they would stop the benefits or decrease the amount.

But if the whole of the UK come to gether and didn't buy fuel for a hole month that would have a massif affect on the tax man and Gordon browns agenda.

Their is never going to be low fuel prices ever again,the world is going to only get worse.

Imagine if Bush and Brown ran out of oil and that was that,but their was oil still from the other country's,do you think they would sit their with one of the biggest army's in the world.

No they would want it.

When oil runs out i don't wont to be here to see what going to happen.

Answer 10

It's the "hard working people" that gives you away.  So what's the BNP going to do about it?

In real terms, fuel's cheaper now than it was in the 1960s and modern cars do twice as many miles to the gallon.  OK, it was cheaper still a couple of years ago, but the days of cheap fuel are over.  If you insist on using it and destroying the planet, then you'll have to pay for it.

Answer 11

First: We must reassess our foreign policy and announce some changes.  

One of the reasons we went into Iraq was to secure “our” oil.  Before the Iraq war oil was less than $30 per barrel; today it is over $125.

The sooner we get out of Iraq and allow the Iraqis to solve their own problems the better.  Since 2002 oil production in Iraq has dropped 50%.

Pipeline sabotage and fires are routine; we have been unable to prevent them.  Soaring gasoline prices are a giant unintended consequence of our invasion, pure and simple.

Second:  We must end our obsession for a military confrontation with Iran.  Iran does not have a nuclear weapon, and according to our own CIA is not on the verge of obtaining one for years.

Iran is not in violation of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, and has a guaranteed right to enrich uranium for energy—in spite of the incessant government and media propaganda to the contrary.

Iran has never been sanctioned by the UN Security Council.  Yet the drumbeat grows louder for attacking certain sites in Iran, either by conventional or even nuclear means.

Repeated resolutions by Congress stir up unnecessary animosity toward Iran, and create even more concern about future oil supplies from the Middle East.  

We must quickly announce we do not seek war with Iran, remove the economic sanctions against her, and accept her offer to negotiate a diplomatic solution to the impasse.

An attack on Iran, coupled with our continued presence in Iraq, could hike gas prices to $5 or $8 per gallon here at home.

By contrast, a sensible approach toward Iran could quickly lower oil prices by $30 per barrel.

Answer 12

Have you considered that the tax on fuel is a good thing?

think about it, in the world we live in.. using the fuel, burning it up in our cars is contributing to pollution.

the higher price is putting pressure on the use of alternative resources, hybrid cars..

think of the future!

Answer 13

well if your car is diesel, then you have automatically got 2 options, 1. diesel 2. bio diesel which is renewable and costs about 58p per litre to make. all it requires is old vegetable old.

my dad has a Audi a6 avant 2.0 tdi, and since the day we got it, we have used bio diesel and the performance has improved.