Grrrrrrr WTF is it with petrol prices these days.....[rant, rant, rant!!!]

[g0ldf1ng3r 13]

I am sick & tired of each visit to my local shell petrol station resulting in yet another increase in petrol cost!!!!

 

2 weeks ago the price for vpower was £1.44.9

Last week the price for vpower was £146.9

today the price is now at £148.9

 

when i was younger, im 36, the price of petrol very rarely used to go up or down - now its like they change it whenever they feel like it!!!!

 

I brought my VR6 4 years ago nearly to the day & it was £0.99.9

 

wages never go up but they government expect us to cope with a 50% rise in petrol cost alone......never mind the increases in food, gas, water, electric etc etc etc

 

we need a modern day guy fawkes & revolt on these robbing MP's!! ;)

 

GRRRRRRRRR rant over, my apologies i needed to vent

[Jim 1]

It is a ridiculous state of affairs. The government will do nothing as it means lots more lovely tax as they're taking a percentage rather than a flat rate.

[g0ldf1ng3r 13]

It is a ridiculous state of affairs. The government will do nothing as it means lots more lovely tax as they're taking a percentage rather than a flat rate.

 

Nail - Head!!!!!

 

Thanks Jim :D

[tony_ack 0]

As much as I like any opportunity to bash the government, I'm not sure they've increased the duty rate once since being in power? I'm not saying that the existing rate was great of course...

 

You need to also take into account the increase in the price of crude (remember $17 a barrel?) and high refining costs - those oil companies always seem to make a pretty penny unless they're paying massive incompetence fines.

[sexybourbon 0]

What i dont get is when they come round every quarter on the news and say blahh blahh blahh bo or who ever have made profits of billions yet they rape us at the pumps

 

The fact wer in recession and it keeps rising baffles me as food prices rise along with everthing else that gets delivered by haulage firms , even if its only costing a few more quid a tank people see it by the litre and when it comes to days out and what not where normally people would be spending at food outlets and small shops and putting money in to the economy they dont bother as most will say agh we cant afford the stupid petrol prices

 

No matter who it is thats raping us doesent matter , it will never change because no one will stand up and do anything about it nor will the government think about helping us out , theres a word that needs knocking off this country and thats "great " , i know theres alot worse places but still this countrys going down the ****ter

[Rustynuts 0]

I agree, fuel prices are too high, however I knew this was coming as i keep an eye on the traded fuel prices (Brent Crude). It has been creeping up for a few weeks, however good news is that it dropped in the last week back to a low for 2013, so all being well we will see the prices drop at the pumps shortly. Usually there seems to be a 3-4 week lag, so don't fill up in March if you don't need to and prices should drop back a bit.

 

Sadly i don't think the govt can do anything about the current high taxation of fuel, this is a historical issue brought in by the previous govt. The problem is that the deficit is so huge there is no room to manouvre with taxes right now.

 

Oil companies are the ones to blame, as they are global and have massive power with govts. The traded price does not reflect the true costs of production which must be considerably lower. So a lot is going into the oil companies pockets.

[Critical_Mass 10]

It wouldnt be so bad, if when crude oil goes down fuel prices go down. But it doesnt it stays the same and when it goes up fuel goes up... WTF.

[rado mc 0]

too true, they put it up in a flash but months to get drop it back down.

 

what gets me is the reasons they give for it? Mainly speculation caused it? what? the speculation they probably started.

 

its painful being the average guy with car/house/job being hammered tax wise from every angle. i want to find a way of withholding my contributions and not paying it for a while.

 

*******s.

[VR-Sixy 0]

As much as I like any opportunity to bash the government, I'm not sure they've increased the duty rate once since being in power? I'm not saying that the existing rate was great of course...

 

You need to also take into account the increase in the price of crude (remember $17 a barrel?) and high refining costs - those oil companies always seem to make a pretty penny unless they're paying massive incompetence fines.

Not for the want of trying though. The last proposed 3p/litre hike was unceremoniously dumped by George The Gimp Osborne due to being deemed as blatant rip-off/pofiteering.

 

---------- Post added at 7:58 AM ---------- Previous post was at 7:57 AM ----------

 

Still, there's another budget coming up again soon. Watch him try it again!!

[Jim 1]

I believe general reason for these more extended, recent price rises have been the continued fall of the pound vs the dollar as everything to do with oil is done in dollars.

 

Frankly I have no belief that the system is being run fairly though and think we're being screwed through a combination of big oil companies, people in finance, and the government - it's in all their interests for the prices to be high, and this will only continue as more economical cars come onto the market and shortfalls in profit and tax need to be made up. But all we can do is bend over and take it.

[coullstar 0]

I believe general reason for these more extended, recent price rises have been the continued fall of the pound vs the dollar as everything to do with oil is done in dollars.

 

 

Thats more the reason for the sudden jump. Oil complanies do make massive profits but thats due to economies of scale, they are so big and produce so much of the stuff that they make big profits. The richer get richer Im afraid but this is because these companies took the risks back in the 60's / 70's to go for black gold. Im not saying they should morally reduce the % they take as it is buisness at the end of the day. I dont work for one by the way. If you want some money back then invest in some shares in the oil companies.

They know its a necessity for us hence why the prices wont ever drop a lot but look at this way £1.39 for one litre of something that has been drilled from say 10kft below the ground, pumped onshore, refined then shipped to the petrol pump an thats including the goverment tax is not really that expensive. To drill and complete one well in the North Sea is estimated to cost a company between $50-70m so its a risk if its a duster. Compare it to how much is a litre of bottled water is these days....

[Jim 1]

Indeed. Petrol costs a lot less than say perfume / aftershave.. and I'm sure a lot more effort goes into producing petrol, than producing that stuff :)

[Rustynuts 0]

Petrol also costs less than beer.

 

Now that is a discussion for another thread!!

[rado mc 0]

don't even go there..

 

best protest flag i ever saw read - "I don't need sex, the government screws me everyday" genius.

[vornwend 0]

Only thing we can really do is use less of it through a combination of less miles, more fuel efficient cars (not Corrado's then!) and more economical driving style - well we are all getting older! AA reported that drivers are using 15% less petrol since the recession began.

 

I was running short of petrol last week and had to use the first station I came across but as the price was a ridiculous 1.45 (unleaded) I actually only put enough to get me to another station on my way that I knew was 8p a litre cheaper - that is the first time I've ever done that. Only saved me £4 but felt better!

[Kevin Bacon 5]

I am sick & tired of each visit to my local shell petrol station resulting in yet another increase in petrol cost!!!!

 

2 weeks ago the price for vpower was £1.44.9

Last week the price for vpower was £146.9

today the price is now at £148.9

 

when i was younger, im 36, the price of petrol very rarely used to go up or down - now its like they change it whenever they feel like it!!!!

 

I brought my VR6 4 years ago nearly to the day & it was £0.99.9

 

wages never go up but they government expect us to cope with a 50% rise in petrol cost alone......never mind the increases in food, gas, water, electric etc etc etc

 

we need a modern day guy fawkes & revolt on these robbing MP's!! ;)

 

GRRRRRRRRR rant over, my apologies i needed to vent

 

Excellent rant! Especially the peasants revolt bit :D

 

If it makes you feel better, I paid £144.9 yesterday for regular unleaded! Mind you, that was from BP though, so to be expected.

 

A litre of unleaded was ~ 45p when I passed my test in 1990. I suppose an increase of £1 over 23 years isn't too bad. Mars Bars were 25p back then and now they're heading towards a quid!

 

I think we are feeling this inflation more than ever because wages have stagnated.

 

I would like to counter the animosity toward the government by saying we are partly responsible for this recession.

The banks are responsible for the other half of it by appeasing our lust for quick gratification (loans & credit cards).

So the very people who caused this recession are the ones moaning loudest about it :D The general public for not being able to afford stuff anymore and the banks for getting their wrists slapped.

 

Cleggaron have made some decisions the public find very unsavoury, but until the country's debt has been paid off, this wages vs inflation shortfall is set to continue.

 

The worst thing is, I don't think people are learning by these mistakes. Some people are only too happy to pay Apple £500 for a peice of glass and metal, bend over backwards to give Sky £100 a month, hand over £8 for a pack of 20, beg curry's to take 1000 of their English pounds for a flat screen TV etc etc, but complain bitterly at having to heat their homes and fill their tanks.

 

I'm not tarring everyone with the same brush. There are people who are genuinely struggling but the people around my way who go out and buy an Essex white Audi A3 on personal finance every year, and then whinge about the cost of living, I have zero sympathy for.

Edited March 8, 2013 by Kevin Bacon

[Jim 1]

I'm not tarring everyone with the same brush. There are people who are genuinely struggling but the people around my way who go out and buy an Essex white Audi A3 on personal finance every year, and then whinge about the cost of living, I have zero sympathy for.

 

Too true!

[g0ldf1ng3r 13]

Excellent rant! Especially the peasants revolt bit :D

 

Why thank you Kev :)

 

The main factor that got to me the other day was the way the petrol price goes up so regularly but never seems to reduce by anywhere near the same frequency or similar amounts.

 

It also seems that once the price per litre broke the £1.00 mark then the country just bent over & took any further increases :(

[joebloggsVR69 0]

It also seems that once the price per litre broke the £1.00 mark then the country just bent over & took any further increases :(

Yep... if only society would just boycott the petrol stations for a week, or set up blockades like the French, that would rattle a few cages :)

[coullstar 0]

Completely agree with the last bit. Im always shouting at these folk on TV that they show are on the poverty line yet they always have these gadgets and cars.

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Why thank you Kev :)

 

The main factor that got to me the other day was the way the petrol price goes up so regularly but never seems to reduce by anywhere near the same frequency or similar amounts.

 

It also seems that once the price per litre broke the £1.00 mark then the country just bent over & took any further increases :(

 

It will never drop below £1 again! Now that everyone is used to £1+ prices, they'll adjust the price a few p here and there occasionally to keep us happy. Then it'll edge up to £2 a litre. People will get the road blocks out again. Then we'll get used to £2+ a litre.... and so the cycle continues.

 

I don't think people would mind too much if they knew where all the tax was going. At the end of the day, it's because of taxes we have roads to drive on, jobs to go to, houses to live in, trains and buses to sit in, our bins get emptied and so on, but some transparency on public spending would be nice.

 

If they passed some of the fuel duty onto alternative fuels research, people wouldn't mind. If people could see the national debt reducing, people wouldn't mind so much. What p1sses us of is all that money they're raking from our wallets is seems to vanish into thin air and all the time we're hearing of record profits at British Gas and RBS wanting their 'freedom' back and still paying big bonuses. We should get receipts of where our money has gone. We are paying these public school boys to run the country for us!

 

I was expecting massive civil unrest when fuel hit £1.50 but people are so full of apathy now, they can't be arsed and it'll just be taken as acceptance by the powers that be. If this happened in America, I'd expect the refineries and Washington to be stormed by angry mobs.

 

I don't like the way we, as a nation, seem to get exploited, but is it because we are so crap at speaking out, or are we just genuinely easy to bully into submission? Here are a few examples that spring to mind, aside from the obvious ' rip off britain' cost of living:

 

In ~1999, VW launched a 2.0 8V MK4 Golf in Europe and just called it a Golf 2.0. In the UK, it was badged 'GTI' and the price increased accordingly.

 

Nissan GTR. $50,000 when launced in the US. Nearer £70K in the UK.

 

This year Panasonic will be launching the VT60 plasma screen. Everywhere else, it's going to be sold as a normal TV. Over here it will be launched as a 'limited edition' at £4000.

 

Why do we take it? Why do we keep buying their products knowing we are being raped? I don't get it. It must be some kind of 'must have at any cost' thing that's unique to this country. In the US and Japan, they get all of the choices available and at sensible prices, so they are very choosy and VFM orientated. Over here, it's a case of, we get what we're given and will pay what ever they ask and lump it.

 

I'm now going to eat an overpriced cake and cup of coffee from costa now :D Might pay their corporation tax for them as well seeing as they're so skint.

 

 

Completely agree with the last bit. Im always shouting at these folk on TV that they show are on the poverty line yet they always have these gadgets and cars.

 

Yep, gets on my wick too!