Would striking over fuel prices get us anywhere?

[harvey19]

Your point?

 

You weren't exactly seeing the best in people.

[Mecky]

You weren't exactly seeing the best in people.

 

Perhaps not, but I was being honest. All anyone ever cares about are themselves and setting their stall above others, whether it's barging people out of the way at the supermarket or boasting about houses, cars and holidays etc. me me me

[dell12]

Perhaps not, but I was being honest. All anyone ever cares about are themselves and setting their stall above others, whether it's barging people out of the way at the supermarket or boasting about houses, cars and holidays etc. me me me

 

While I think you have a point, there needs to be alternatives in place to going anywhere and everywhere by car which there aren't.

 

Going by train is going to get a heck of alot more expensive and bus services are so poor or non existent they're not really an option. Unfortunately many people don't have much choice but to go by car.

[Bigthumb]

Perhaps we are starting to pay the price for clearing up the oil spill in the gulf.

[spudgun]

Something`s got to be done. It`s getting beyond a joke. The car is going to end up becoming a luxury item like it was when they were first invented

[RichD]

If you were to tell your employer you weren't going to go to work and you were quite happy to damage the company because the price of oil (and hence the price of road fuel) was going up, what do you think that would do for your job prospects?

 

It's not just the price of oil this time though, is it? Sure, it's risen to about $90 a barrel, which is higher than I'd like to see it, but we're now paying about the same as we were at the previous peak. When the price was $147. Oil prices are currently 39% lower than the last time we hit this peak, but forecourt prices are the same. I know exchange rates are different now, but there's still a massive amount of extra tax on each litre of fuel.

 

So while your point about employers having nothing to do with it is true and valid, surely some form of national action needs to be taken?

 

Actually, unlike so many of the sheeple, I saw the massive tax hikes as they happened. Crafty ones like dropping VAT but upping fuel duty at the same time, then not taking it back off when VAT went back to 17.5%. And standard ones multiple times a year. "Oh, the people won't notice because the prices are so much lower now. And when the prices skyrocket again we can just claim it's because of oil prices!"

[lizmachin]

The UK gas price is about double that currently in Canada where the price is actually falling. It is odd that prices should be on the up as most of the UK price is tax.

[Mecky]

While I think you have a point, there needs to be alternatives in place to going anywhere and everywhere by car which there aren't.

 

Going by train is going to get a heck of alot more expensive and bus services are so poor or non existent they're not really an option. Unfortunately many people don't have much choice but to go by car.

 

 

Yep, I can't afford a car but it costs more to travel by bus

[Obelix]

It's not just the price of oil this time though, is it? Sure, it's risen to about $90 a barrel, which is higher than I'd like to see it, but we're now paying about the same as we were at the previous peak. When the price was $147. Oil prices are currently 39% lower than the last time we hit this peak, but forecourt prices are the same. I know exchange rates are different now, but there's still a massive amount of extra tax on each litre of fuel.

 

So while your point about employers having nothing to do with it is true and valid, surely some form of national action needs to be taken?

 

Actually, unlike so many of the sheeple, I saw the massive tax hikes as they happened. Crafty ones like dropping VAT but upping fuel duty at the same time, then not taking it back off when VAT went back to 17.5%. And standard ones multiple times a year. "Oh, the people won't notice because the prices are so much lower now. And when the prices skyrocket again we can just claim it's because of oil prices!"

 

What was the £/$ rate though at the last peak? It was about 30% in our favour. Add in the duty increases and I dont think prices are that infeasible.

[Fartown]

It's not just the price of oil this time though, is it? Sure, it's risen to about $90 a barrel, which is higher than I'd like to see it, but we're now paying about the same as we were at the previous peak. When the price was $147. Oil prices are currently 39% lower than the last time we hit this peak, but forecourt prices are the same. That 39% is now additional tax, on top of what we had to pay back then...

 

 

When oil was $1.47 a barrel, what was the exchange rate between the pound and the dollar? I seem to remember it was about $2.00 = £1.00 in late 2007.

 

It's now $1.55 = £1.00 - worth 77.5% of what it was worth then, so $90 a barrel today is equivalent to a little over $116. It's still cheaper now than it was at its highest point, but you can't simply compare the dollar prices whilst ignoring the exchange rate.

 

China's demand for oil is increasing and the rate at which it is increasing is increasing, too. I suspect that there's only one way oil prices will go.

 

The average price of petrol in England is about £1.22 a litre, but according to a friend of mine in Germany, it's £1.28 a litre there, so we've got the cheap stuff. We also have the cheapest natural gas in Europe and our electricity prices are amongst the cheapest. (The French have cheaper electricity, but they invested more heavily in nuclear plants.)

 

Prices for fuels - road and heating - are going up in the UK, but they're going up eslewhere, too.