UK NEWS

NOW PETROL HITS £5 A GALLON

FEARS: Further petrol price rises seem likely

Wednesday March 12,2008

By Louise Barnett Consumer Editor

Comment Speech Bubble Have your say(7)

THE £5 gallon of petrol has arrived, sparking fears that it will become widespread if fuel duty increases.

The symbolic £5 threshold for unleaded was broken for the first time at a motorway service station yesterday, said the AA.

The high price will put further pressure on Chancellor Alistair Darling to leave the anticipated 2p per litre petrol duty increase out of today’s Budget.

Motoring groups and small businesses reacted with dismay at hearing that the M40 Cherwell Valley service area in Oxfordshire was charging 110.9p per litre, which works out at more than £5 a gallon.

The AA said that average UK prices had hit 106.20p per litre for petrol and 112.70p for diesel.

AA head of roads policy Paul Watters said the £5 gallon was significant because many motorists still worked out their petrol use in gallons.

He warned: “It is within spitting distance of being the UK average price if the tuppence goes on in the Budget. We will be very close to the £5 average gallon.”

The AA says petrol is now 17.18p per litre more expensive than a year ago, meaning it costs £8.59 more to fill a 50-litre tank.

Further petrol price rises seem likely as oil reached a record high of more than 109 US dollars a barrel yesterday before easing to about 107 dollars.

OK DARLING

12.03.08, 11:32pm

tell your mates to put it down as expences and they wont be out of pocket. the nice tax payer will foot the bill, and if you want to buy a nice big car claim for that as well.

• Posted by: allout • Report Comment

NOW PETROL HITS £5 A GALLON

12.03.08, 3:23pm

As I have said on here before, don't just sit on your bloody arses whinging on about it, get up and take action. How many let the truckers down just before Christmas when they tried to do something about it, and thought it ever so funny, now who's laughing. The motorist has a massive fight on their hands, but if just half the country made a stance on this greedy government who use the lame excuse of CO2 emissions to bludgeon more and more out of all of us, then they can be brought down. Congestion charges, Lexus lanes, they won't stop until they are stopped.

• Posted by: snaredrum • Report Comment

FUEL

12.03.08, 2:37pm

Yes it is the greed of the oil companies but also the GREED of the Oil producing countries who are just using oil as a means of ripping of the countries who buy it.
Also even when the tanker has filled up and underway it can still be diverted to another country who are prepared to pay the price, or gazump the person who agreed the price for it.
One of the main culprits is China who will pay anything as long as it gets the oil. and Chavez from venazuela who says he will not sell to the west, so cutting down where we can get oil from.
I will probalby never see the day when we finally develop cars that don't use oil and then can tell these countries to shove it.
Also this goverment does rip off the british people with its fuel duty and then VAT on top, but can someone please explain to me why only in this country is Diesel more than petrol when it cost less to produce, yo can run a diesel engine off chip fat and that is not very refined where as petrol has to be highly refined for the modern engine.
Also hauliers are struggling to cope and everything you can buy in the shops is delivered by Trucks so guess who is going to pay for it in the end.
And the goverments latest thign is GREEN GREEN GREEN so they will tax on this theme, yet will it stop tehm driving round in their big cars and flying here and there, NO it will make no difference as they CAN AFFORD it with their Wages and pensions.
They WILL make the ordinary folk pay through the nose for it.
I do not trust the voters to get rid of these incompetent lot as I expect just as in the referendum vote they will get back in again.

• Posted by: KEEF • Report Comment

WHEN CAMERON SAID THAT BRITAIN HAD THE HIGHEST TAX BURDEN IN HISTORY ED BALLS SHOUTED "SO WHAT!"

12.03.08, 2:36pm

WHEN CAMERON SAID THAT BRITAIN HAD THE HIGHEST TAX BURDEN IN HISTORY ED BALLS SHOUTED "SO WHAT!"

• Posted by: NathanHobbs • Report Comment

OIL COMPANIES NOT TO BLAME

12.03.08, 9:37am

As the chancellor prepares to add another 2p in fuel tax in the coming year he will try to blame the oil companies for the increase in prices at the pump. But greedy as they may be you can't blame them for the increase when the government takes 65% tax per litre and then adds vat to round things off.

• Posted by: splodge • Report Comment