Petrol price,s

[Leekbrookgull]

Here we go again anothe push for a £ a litre,just manage to fill up here at Endon,at 90.9 and don,t know really why i should clap at that!!

 

[Brovion]

Prices do go up I'm afraid, I remember we all complained when petrol went up to 50p - a GALLON! In five year's or so time everybody will be pleased if they can get 'cheap' petrol at 99p a litre.

When I see all the sodding great 4x4s pulling up outside Downs school on Ditchling road to drop of ONE child l realise that petrol is still far too cheap.

 

[Leekbrookgull]

Would this be the same type of driver we have around here? Insist,s on driving Tamsin,the 150 yards to school,in a Bull-Barred 4x4,with child on board sticker on the rear window. When they get outside the school gates,they then mount the kerb,nearly knocking several children over,whilst trying to park.

 

[Gwylan]

As Brovian says, in a few years' time, you'll be dreaming wistfully of 90p a litre.

Petrol is way too cheap - if you use 1975 as a benchmark (as that was when our last bout of sustained high inflation ended), then it costs just 70% of the 1975 price.

I remember going to Albion away matches then and deciding whether to go by car or train according to how many people went. If two of us went, it wasn't worth using the car; if three or more went, it was. I still think that's the policy that should be adopted by transport planners now - if it's cheaper for a sole driver to go by car (which it often is) then petrol is too cheap or public transport's too expensive (or both).

There seem to be some signs that the government is beginning to understand this and I suspect the cost of motoring will start to rise steadily over the next decade so I'd enjoy your cheap petrol while you can.

 

[The Timekeeper]

Here we go again anothe push for a £ a litre,just manage to fill up here at Endon,at 90.9 and don,t know really why i should clap at that!!

90.9 is cheap compared to some places, my local Tesco's is 94.9 for unleaded and 96.9 for diesel.

 

[Superseagull]

Re: Re: Petrol price,s

90.9 is cheap compared to some places, my local Tesco's is 94.9 for unleaded and 96.9 for diesel.

And in the same Tesco's you could pay over £1 for a 1 litre bottle of water! Kind of puts the price of petrol into perspective.

 

[Brovion]

... I still think that's the policy that should be adopted by transport planners now - if it's cheaper for a sole driver to go by car (which it often is) then petrol is too cheap or public transport's too expensive (or both). ...

True, and the balance hasn't been struck yet. I had to go to Bedford a few months ago on business. When I have to visit clients I always try and take the train (most are in London so it's easy) and so I dutifully put my environmentally-friendly, sustainable-transport hat on and caught the Thameslink cattletruck to Bedford. The return ticket was a few pence short of £50! Add another £12 for taxis and that's £62. I'm sorry to say that the next time I went I went by car, even with the Dartford tolls it was less than half what I'd paid previously. And it was more comfortable, no fat bastards squashing against my arse and jamming against my knees.

 

[swindonseagull]

Petrol is way too cheap

are you a millionare?

When I see all the sodding great 4x4s pulling up outside Downs school on Ditchling road to drop of ONE child l realise that petrol is still far too cheap.

Freedom of choice to buy and drive what you want....maybe you are just a bit jealous ?

http://www.petrolprices.com/

http://www.pipelinecard.org/

 

[Robbie G]

4 x 4's are pointless unless they are actually needed

Cram the kids into a hatchback and the whole world will be a happier place. Well, at least mine will be

 

[West Hoathly Seagull]

There seem to be some signs that the government is beginning to understand this and I suspect the cost of motoring will start to rise steadily over the next decade so I'd enjoy your cheap petrol while you can.

Gwylan, I think you will find Mr Brown and Mr Prescott tried to bring in such a policy when the Government came in in 1997. Fuel duty went up 6% above inflation each year, and Prescott gave out rural bus grants. It all went tits up when the fuel protests took place and they realised that all the 4X4 drivers were defecting to the Tories (the one time they have been well ahead in the polls since the ERM crisis in 1992). They have since backtracked and are even undermining the one form of public transport - rail, that can make a difference to people's travelling habits (see France and Germany, where there are virtually no longer any internal flights on the main business routes). Tram schemes have been axed - Liverpool, Leeds, extension in Manchester for example and the latest Great Western franchise has seen deep cuts in the services on the Cornish and Devonian branches which are well used by commuters as well as tourists. Alastair Darling seems to think that people will be happy to use buses, which outside London and cities such as Brighton, are not a realistic alternative to the car. When will they learn this rather obvious lesson?

 

[Brovion]

West Hoathley - The 'Fuel Accelerator' (increasing petrol by inflation + 6%) was actually introduced by the Tories - much to the delight of my right-wing father who thought it would 'get the poor people off the roads'. Labour kept it as it was a good money-making wheeze. Needless to say in opposition the Tories thought it was unfair!

Swindonseagull - No, I long ago got past the stage of being jealous of other people's vehicles. And we're going to have to disagree on 'freedom of choice'. In quite a lot of respects I'm all for the 'Nanny State' telling us what to do and I wish it would include banning inappropriate vehicles in town/city centers.

 

[Cadman]

Beer is over £5 a litre.

Nobody says a word about that.!!

 

[The Great Cornholio]

Diesel is 101.9p a litre at Oxford Services

 

[Little Rich]

The one thing that drives me mad is the amount of Tax you pay on petrol. Mr Brown knows that he can get away with upping petrol prices each year as we all need it.

I use my car mainly to get to work, if there was better public transport I wouldn't have a problem with not using my car to get to work but the fact of the matter is that the southern train service is a joke.

 

[dougdeep]

Beer is over £5 a litre.

Nobody says a word about that.!!

No it isn't!

 

[Lord Bracknell]

The one thing that drives me mad is the amount of Tax you pay on petrol. Mr Brown knows that he can get away with upping petrol prices each year as we all need it.

I use my car mainly to get to work, if there was better public transport I wouldn't have a problem with not using my car to get to work but the fact of the matter is that the southern train service is a joke.

I use the train to get to work.

Because it's cheaper than running a car and the service is excellent and more reliable than the roads - which seem to be cluttered up with crashed vehicles causing massive tailbacks.

And no-one has ever tried to kill me when I've been on a train.

 

[dougdeep]

Is there a new station at Firle then?

 

[1066gull]

When I've been growing up, everything has been going up in value.

Petrol, house prices, football tickets, player values.........

You adults had it all good when things only cost a couple of pence.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

Is there a new station at Firle then?

Nope. It's at Glynde.

Time was when trains DID stop at my house, to deliver water.

But we now have mod cons laid on. Some, anyway.

 

[Gwylan]

Gwylan, I think you will find Mr Brown and Mr Prescott tried to bring in such a policy when the Government came in in 1997. Fuel duty went up 6% above inflation each year, and Prescott gave out rural bus grants. It all went tits up when the fuel protests took place and they realised that all the 4X4 drivers were defecting to the Tories (the one time they have been well ahead in the polls since the ERM crisis in 1992). They have since backtracked and are even undermining the one form of public transport - rail, that can make a difference to people's travelling habits (see France and Germany, where there are virtually no longer any internal flights on the main business routes). Tram schemes have been axed - Liverpool, Leeds, extension in Manchester for example and the latest Great Western franchise has seen deep cuts in the services on the Cornish and Devonian branches which are well used by commuters as well as tourists. Alastair Darling seems to think that people will be happy to use buses, which outside London and cities such as Brighton, are not a realistic alternative to the car. When will they learn this rather obvious lesson?

WHS, it's not quite true to say that the only time that the Tories have been ahead in the polls is during the fuel crisis - they were also ahead jsut after Cameron got elected as leader and started banging on about the environment - talk about mixed messages.

You're right that the government hasn't increased petrol duty since the fuel protests but they haven't decreased them either, despite a couple more abortive protests. However, in the last year the government has increased tax on 4x4s, introduced a road aimed at car-sharers, given grants to many local authorities, including Brighton & Hove to promote cycling, and admitted that they looking into road-charging schemes (that's quite a u-turn seeing that they were dismissing Ken's Congestion Charge as looney just five years ago).

They're all small changes but there's a subtle shift in the recognition that an economy built on unlimited growth in roads and cars isn't sustainable in the long term.

The Tories haven't matched their environmental rhetoric with any firm policies, but if they too start recognising this, then I suspect we'll see Labour start increasing petrol duty again. It was the fear of driving car-owners to the Tories that stopped them.

But you're right that Labour hasn't yet grasped the nettle of rail travel. To make the shift from private to public would entail a big investment in rail, something that this government doesn't seem prepared to do in fact, they're looking to reduce subsidies. We won't see a real change in outlook until that happens.