• You are viewing the forum as a Guest, please login (you can use your Facebook, Twitter, Google or Microsoft account to login) or register using this link: Log in or Sign Up

Please sign this petition - Fuel prices

Status
Not open for further replies.
I am self employed arctic driver,the cost to the firm i am driving for at the moment between £250 and £350 a day to refuel my truck,every thing you eat,drink,wear,everything in your house,everything you use in your daily life is transported by road in the uk,so can you imagine how much the cost of living would go up if diesel prices went up to £10 a litre,if they didn't make an exemption tax for logistic's firm's then i am afraid there would be hell of a lot of people on the poverty line,

John.
 
SuperColey1 said:
I'm woth Luis. anywhere within 15 miles and I bike. Any further I bike to the bus or train station. Taking the kids I bike with a buggy attached to the rear or bus. Always done this.

That's a very wonderful thing to do mate. I'm glad you've got the time.

I however, find that most of my work is at least 80miles away-1 way- and currently, i'm 137 miles away from home, 274 round trip. Sadly, i cant get on a push bike, strap my tools to a buggy and go to work. Time doesn't allow me to.

This nonsense about hiking up fuels prices, makes me pretty angry i must admit.

SuperColey1 said:
lazy school runners that drive half or even 1 mile get the message that they should be walking.

My wife must me lazy then?...she does it.... a 5 minute walk. Oh, hang one...i forgot...she has to go straight to work after doing so, simply no spare time.

Please dont get me started on this :silent:

As 98% of people who've commented, the price of everyday living would go up if fuel prices went up. FACT.

The ever increasing number of unemployed would increase ten fold as business' collapsed. Then who's tax would pay for us all then eh?
 
I'm sorry Mark. I'm pretty old fashioned really and stuck in the days where Mum (or a parent) stayed home. One reason why I quit my job. Wife was so obsessed with money that she got jobs without asking me how I felt so as she wouldn't give up I did instead.

I don't buy into the 2 people working idea really. Yes families then have more money but then everyone else wants more, the more things go up, the more wages we then want then the more wages we wanted push prices up more. Its a vicious circle really.

If we all did the one parent at home bit (if possible) there would be more available jobs and then (if we could push them into them) the unemployed would have more jobs for the government into hence reducing the benefits bill etc. Many different circles that all counteract each other in the end.

Now wifey has lost her job coupled with the fact she now has a baby to look after again I shall return to work and she most definitely won't be. One reason why I sold the car. Waste of the household income that can be better spent on her not working :)

I can understand people getting upset with the prices and yes some people do have to work a long way from home but back in the days companies used to pay expenses for petrol at a mile rate. Maybe these days they don't? Maybe thats because we all wanted higher wages and they now skimp on the expenses part. I know my wife's petrol expenses when she was a home to home carer only just covered the petrol of a small car and even then they would try and argue about if it covered from home to the first call etc.

Andy
 
sorry,but some of you haven't got a clue.
my company recently just made 400 redundancies because people ARE using their cars LESS.
theirs thousands/millions of people in this country who's livelyhoods would be lost if petrol prices went up to £10.
what jobs would they do instead ????????????.
yeah lets get cars off the roads now that motorists have paid to have them built so buses have their bus lanes and lunatic cyclists have their cycle lanes.
maybe someone could explain to cyclists what a red traffic light means !!!!!!!!!!.

i know you're talking about petrol prices,but if oil prices keep going up have you thought about what else is made from it ?.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petrochemical

http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/clas ... roleum.pdf

GET REAL...........................
 
It would be wonderful to not have to use my car but it is a necessary evil.

My o/h had to take a job 30 miles away after being out of work for 4 months. We would never accept benefits and our savings run out fast. The journey is awful and often with traffic adds 3 hours onto the day. I work late too and we both struggle to find time to cook dinner and do the housework, let alone spend any time together.

We cannot work locally and we cannot afford to move. We don't have flash cars, (tbh they are not even reliable), we don't eat out and we are careful with money, but the cost of living is increasing beyond our means. We can't even see ourselves start a family as we both need to work.

Everyones situation is different. So you cannot just increase the price of fuel to force everyone to enjoy the car-less life that you are so lucky to have. I would love to live in london close to work, I would LOVE to have children and walk them to school and have the time to ride to the shops. If I could I would but if the situation that I am in now does not change, this will never happen for me.

Andy you make me so angry. It is not the 'good old days', we are is the crappy modern days where my o/h and I are on piss poor wages and possibly if we are 'lucky' enough to continue the way we are will have enough money saved to buy a house by the time we are 36. We cannot see a time when one of us can give up work and start a family. And you keep saying how great your life is out of work, with a wife and children and a home.

I would swap my life with you in a heartbeat. But can't. Do you really think that raising the price of fuel would help me?

PS. Andy I am sorry that your wife lost her job. It must be a difficult and worrying time for your family.
 
Wow, so much passion on petrol. :) It makes sense as we do different jobs and require different things from petrol that we would have separate ideas. It is bad for Nelson that his company made redundant so many people, but is that bad for the environment that less people are driving cars?

Don't you understand that if the petrol was more expensive it would make sense to get apples from the UK instead of buying them from South Africa, for example? The petrol being cheap means that it makes economic sense to buy items from abroad, cheaper to transport them here, than having them made here, or grown here in the UK.

Think about that, look at the big picture and understand that although we cannot fight the flat world, we can at least understand that the ability to buy from abroad cheaper is bad for the country as a whole.

Concessions for haulers, farmers and factories should be implemented, but all the rest should pay the price for the luxury of using a gas guzler. For example, do you need a 3L 4x4 to go to work or drop the kids?

Couldn't you do it with a 1.1L ?
 
nelson said:
sorry,but some of you haven't got a clue.
my company recently just made 400 redundancies because people ARE using their cars LESS.
theirs thousands/millions of people in this country who's livelyhoods would be lost if petrol prices went up to £10.
what jobs would they do instead ????????????.
yeah lets get cars off the roads now that motorists have paid to have them built so buses have their bus lanes and lunatic cyclists have their cycle lanes.
maybe someone could explain to cyclists what a red traffic light means !!!!!!!!!!.

i know you're talking about petrol prices,but if oil prices keep going up have you thought about what else is made from it ?.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petrochemical

http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/clas ... roleum.pdf

GET REAL...........................

If labour costs and work conditions hadn't been such a priority we would still be building cars in this country for our own brands. Just as I would still be working in a major diesel industrial engine manufacturer (the biggies) These are the costs of wanting loads of money, loads of luxuries whilst paying as little as possible for them. Blame ourselves and the unions we bought into always pushing for more on our behalf.

And I am not saying adding duty to fuel is the answer but at the moment parties are fumbling around for ways to get people off the roads. There is no quick and easy answer to making people get off their bumbs (in front of TV or in their cars) and I am not sure duty is the best answer at the moment either.

As for the 'lunatic cyclists not knowing what a red light is. Next time you see those of us cyclist who do know what a red light is and stop, count how many cars accelerate to get through. A red light to the majority of cyclists means stop. For the idiots it doesn't. However there is a much higher proportion of motorists that seem to think a red light is a 10 second warning!!!.

I would be quite happy to pay a proportionate road tax for using my bicycle on the road. Would be able to fund that easily by the fuel/MOT savings :)

It would be wonderful to not have to use my car but it is a necessary evil.
I have no problem with those that NEED to use their car. It is those that do not need to that are the problem. those who drive 2 minutes down the road to get a bit of shopping, those who drive half a mile to the school or to work etc.

My o/h had to take a job 30 miles away after being out of work for 4 months. We would never accept benefits and our savings run out fast. The journey is awful and often with traffic adds 3 hours onto the day. I work late too and we both struggle to find time to cook dinner and do the housework, let alone spend any time together.

I never accepted benefits in my younger more stubborn days however why? I paid the taxes to put into the 'fund' which is there to help me and others when times are hard. These days I fully accept it

We cannot work locally and we cannot afford to move. We don't have flash cars, (tbh they are not even reliable), we don't eat out and we are careful with money, but the cost of living is increasing beyond our means. We can't even see ourselves start a family as we both need to work.
Sorry I don't buy that. Do you live in squalour with no TV, no chairs, no nothing? I can afford to live, eat well (cooking fresh foods and fresh meats not eating out) plus pay my utilities, pay my rent, have 30mb broadband, TV licence et al and whilst living week to week on the money we make do with that squalid life. This was when one of us worked or as now where we are both out of work and £40 a week worse off. When I get back to work I will have £40 a week extra to spend or save :) whilst still living in the squalid pit.

excuse the sarcasm here but I am far from a follower of the 'cost of living is so expensive compared to how it used to be. How it used to be people lived within their means and made sacrifices if they wanted something. Thats why my parents generation and their parents generation have their own houses paid up and are enjoying their savings.

Everyones situation is different. So you cannot just increase the price of fuel to force everyone to enjoy the car-less life that you are so lucky to have. I would love to live in london close to work, I would LOVE to have children and walk them to school and have the time to ride to the shops. If I could I would but if the situation that I am in now does not change, this will never happen for me.

Totally agree everyone's situation is different hence the statement above on me not knowing the answr to getting people off their bums. Maybe a tax on sitting down (I jest.) Its a tough cookie to crack.

Andy you make me so angry. It is not the 'good old days', we are is the crappy modern days where my o/h and I are on piss poor wages and possibly if we are 'lucky' enough to continue the way we are will have enough money saved to buy a house by the time we are 36. We cannot see a time when one of us can give up work and start a family. And you keep saying how great your life is out of work, with a wife and children and a home.

Indeed but should we just give up and accept this modern commercialised, materialistic world where we do not have to make choices, where we demand someone else makes up the difference, where we choose to take credit and then blame others when we can't pay it? or could we think for ourselves, prioritise, choose what is necessary and if we get into trouble accept we made the mistake? Surely we should start to be happy with what we've got and try to improve rather than always crying for what we don't have? It will be a very miserable nation if we all end up that way.

I would swap my life with you in a heartbeat. But can't. Do you really think that raising the price of fuel would help me?
Lol. You would swap for living in a beat up council estate? The only think you would swap with me is satisfaction of life however that is a mentality thing derived from acceptance of the situation I find myself in and willingnes to try and improve it. I may well have started life well looked after in what they now call the middles class family. I may have had some very good jobs prior to redundancies where I frittered away both redundancies totalling £9k. That would have been a 30% deposit on a mortgage at the age of 25 but alas foolish youthfullness saw that disappear on lifestyle choices instead.

PS. Andy I am sorry that your wife lost her job. It must be a difficult and worrying time for your family.

She worries but she is on the same line as most. Can't afford the vital things like games consoles, leather sofas, new beds, new car et al however not me. I will work again. It will be soon. It may be factory or it may be a decent office job but I will work and just as now I will continue to be happy with what I have and not cry for what I don't.

You said it all when you said 'crappy modern world' Exactly to the point and spot on however we as people have turned our country into this 'crappy' viewpoint. We as people are also the only ones who can change it for the better. Not necessarily the 'good old days' but at least some semblance of people handling their own budgets responsibly and not insisting that they need more and more material things and more and more money whilst all the time pushing more and more luxuries into what they consider the cost of living!!!

Maybe I am idealistic, maybe far too old fashioned, however I have grown into that. Believe me I bought into the materialistic viewpoint big style while I was young to the point where the only benefit is that I have a worryingly impressive credit rating (if I wanted to take on credit.) however I am 36 just like you and we are poles apart in terms of what we think is hard times and good times.

Politics is a toughy. Can't please everyone all the time and any decision will always please less people than it impresses especially if it involves money however until someone comes up with the golden nugget that solves the problem they will always take the easy 'stop gap' policy.

I should add that you are in London, I am in the grim north and so housing whether rented or mortgage is cheaper we earn a lot less (in general, not across the board) and goods (in the main) cost similar prices. Tescos and Sainsburys charge the same across the country to my knowledge.

Andy
 
to get people of the roads, everyone should have to take a driving test every 10 years, every 5 years once you hit 60. This would soon clear up the roads and the drivers left would be the ones who drove properly and economically. not ones who bimble around at half the speed limit oblivious to the world around causing jams and tailbacks.
 
My idea for lower fuel prices.

Let only one fuel supplier operate in the UK. It sucks for the companies offering lower prices, but watch them scramble to offer the lowest they can to get that contract.
 
skeletonw00t said:
If you honestly believe adding more tax to fuel is going to help the countries economy recover then you're living in a dreamworld :/

Like it or not - petroleum drives our society. Fact.

We already pay over the odds on fuel taxes and it is already crippling to the smaller businesses in the UK.

We need to help grow small local businesses not burden them with more stealth taxes.

If you put taxes up on fuel all you will do is hurt middle england more (the people who basically keep the country going) and allow companies like Tesco to destroy even more local businesses.

No I have no illusions that taxing fuel will resolve any economy issues. Its a 2 way horse. Yes more tax comes in to the treasury however that reduces the spending power so consumer taxes go down etc. This is purely being done because no-one knows how to get more people to think before jumping into their car.

And saying Petroleum drives society - fact as if it is a accept and move on we could apply this to many things in society which e all agree we don't like. Both sides can say hard luck it isn't changing or Hard luck it is changing.

I agree totally with what you are saying r.e. helping local businesses etc however it is us that demands ever cheaper goods, every cheaper bills and I don't think many of us are about to boycott supermarkets. Why would we, we are saying here that we can't afford to pay for petrol so we aren't about to support the local grocer if it adds £10 a week to the bill!

Can't use this argument both ways. or can we suggest to the government they reduce fuel costs and we all promise to use the local grocer and butcher in exchange? Isn't gonna happen guys. We would get our cheap fuel and still be going to Tesco to keep the grocery bill down.

Like I say until someone comes up with a viable plan then its always going to be the easiest stopgap solution. Even if there is a golden nugget that solves each problem there will still be those who suddenly are affected by the replacement deal.

Another on the subject of car tax paying people versus cyclists. I was paying £170 a year for my Fiesta (yes I owned that car even though I can't drive) and it was rarely used. Did 20000 miles in the 6 years I had it and much of that was when the wife worked travelling from house to house caring. And like Luis chooses to cycle while he is still paying Car Tax. Can we ask for refunds at the end of the year? Nope. So we reduce the road bill from wear and tear and amount of traffic alike and we are rewarded than nothing other than motorists telling us cyclist shouldn't be on the road!!!

As for the cycle lane comment. I agree, get rid of them. We can't use the ones in Lincoln because on the off road ones Pedestrians do not recognise white lines walking 6 abreast the width of the cyclepath and footpath. On the ones on the side of the road the motorists cannot read the signs that say 'no parking between 8am and 6pm'. I see no tickets on these and police cars drive straight past. And I still see loads of mobile phones stuck to motorists ears. It is very easy to brand cyclists as a nuisance based on a reasonable number that are a nuisance but it is even easier to brand motorists as the same and there is a much higher percentage of them.

Come on guys, use your brains and think of an alternative. This isn't about getting a little bit extra taxes into the treasury, that is counter productive. It is about reducing road numbers. So come up with alternatives and then get behind them campaigning. I'll even help you reverse the taxes if it reduces the numbers :)

Andy
 
Hi Andy.

Sorry my post was a bit of a rant. I read your posts on the london riots and I agree with many of your values. I do not have any debt and I try very hard not to live a champagne lifestyle on lemonade wages. But for someone whos wages just covers the bills, the mention of prices on anything going up at the moment made me see red.

My post sounded as if I am very bitter about my life. I am not, I just wanted you to understand that there are people that do not have these unessential "essentials" but by increasing fuel tax you are punishing everyone. And it made me angry that you feel that all car drivers are some kind of monsters that get into debt to keep up with the jones'.

I agree that benefits should be available to all those who need them. I just feel that in my position, I can and will do anything possible to stay off of them. I understand that everyones situation is different, but do you think that if you drove you would stand a better chance of getting a job? (sorry to be cheeky)

If having a car allows me to stay in employment and out of the dole queue is it such a bad thing?
 
The main issue is the fuel prices, how the cheap petrol just corrupts the country an stops companies to look for replacement energy.

I own a car, a 1.8 turbo diesel meriva, pay tax and insurance on it, and service the car at a dealership, but we drive so little that a full tank last for just over a month. :)

I love cars, really do, would love to have a unimog, or a defender 110, a 911 and a ford Capri 3000 gt. But I have kids, and the world I would like to leave to them is not a world dependent on solid fuels. I am lucky to be able to work from home when I want, an the wife works at a local school. We live, work and shop on a radius of 3 miles.

I do understand that all have different situations but why not try to decrease the fuel requirements? Increase the price of fuel and I am sure people would adapt to the change.

Like the congestion charge in London. £8 to get into London, but people still keep driving into the city.


---
- .
 
skeletonw00t said:
Sorry but this is all just nonsense thats another way to hit the hard working people of the uk.

Te unemployed on benefits dont care because they pay for nothing anyway. The rich can afford it so they dont care... Yet again its middle england that will foot the bill.

.

I partially agree with this...i know we are drifting on and off topic here, but i got my water bill yesterday, and it had increased considerably. I phoned them to ask if it was a true reading and whether they had the payment right. They had got it right, and i'm lumped with the rise. The Anglian water operator then asked if i claimed any benefits...i said no, apart from family allowance (which is also a nonsense in my book, this was introduced after the war to help people get on their feet, personally, if you can't afford children, don't have them. Purely my opinion, why should my tax go towards a family of 20 kids!). Back on track now, the operator said, that's a shame, i could have 20% off my current water tariff! What another blow for the working man??

I know it's my water and i have wasted it, but why should i lump it for a 'can't be bothered'. I make no illusions, times are hard, but there are jobs out there, i know that for a fact. It's just in this society, people don't like the minimum wage.


Ian's rant now over.
 
:rolleyes:
Lets be honest its lets....... Rip off the British working man/women.
Rip off Britain that's what its called if your a worker.
Nobody gives a toss...its a I'm all right jack because Ive got shed loads of money in the bank....... its been going on for years.
Privatisation the biggest rip-off of the general public ever.
Europe aaaaaaargh.I could go on and on and on :sick: of it.

Taxes and charges I could name hundreds.
Salaries and pensions in the public sector way over the justifiable.
Bankers bonuses..we all know where that comes from the £35.00 charge for your bank account being overdrawn .
The biggest scam ever.

And that lot who sit in Westminster when ever it takes their fancy to turn up... want us to put money away for our retirement. o_O
What planet are these people on. :thumbdown:
I wont say cheers because I'm just back from work after doing 10 hours on a Sunday to try and boost up my works pension, if ever I receive any.
:? hoggie
 
Ok, let me see if I have this right.

1 - Cheap fuel will help the working man get to work and help the country get back on it's feet.

2 - Don't try to lower the carbon emissions because the Chinese will mess it up anyway.

3 - If you are in favor of other forms of transport but driving you are a hippy, out of your mind, or have no clue of what you are talking about.

4 - If fuel prices increase too much then the economy will collapse, no deliveries (especially next day), no milk, bread, possibly not even newspapers, local shops would close, etc.

I really didn't know that it was that the situation was that bad, but thanks for letting me know.

Let me go and sign the petition, got to make a stand against these hippies that want to save the earth. ;)


---
- .
 
ghostsword said:
Ok, let me see if I have this right.

1 - Cheap fuel will help the working man get to work and help the country get back on it's feet.

2 - Don't try to lower the carbon emissions because the Chinese will mess it up anyway.

3 - If you are in favor of other forms of transport but driving you are a hippy, out of your mind, or have no clue of what you are talking about.

4 - If fuel prices increase too much then the economy will collapse, no deliveries (especially next day), no milk, bread, possibly not even newspapers, local shops would close, etc.

I really didn't know that it was that the situation was that bad, but thanks for letting me know.

Let me go and sign the petition, got to make a stand against these hippies that want to save the earth.

OK mate, it's obvious your standing your ground. If your not happy with low fuel prices, and you'd like to pay more, do this one thing for me...

The money you'd like to pay for more fuel, instead, make a £100 donation to the current water shortage in east Africa!!! At least this way, the money you would of paid for expensive petrol has gone to a better, current situation
I've done it, whilst still trying to pay pay my way to make a business work
 
[quoteOk, let me see if I have this right.

1 - Cheap fuel will help the working man get to work and help the country get back on it's feet.

2 - Don't try to lower the carbon emissions because the Chinese will mess it up anyway.

3 - If you are in favor of other forms of transport but driving you are a hippy, out of your mind, or have no clue of what you are talking about.

4 - If fuel prices increase too much then the economy will collapse, no deliveries (especially next day), no milk, bread, possibly not even newspapers, local shops would close, etc.
[/quote]

I don't think you are a hippy or out of your mind luis, although I would like to try your rose tinted specs ;) I think that you deserve praise for the way that you and your family limit your use of the car. And we should encourage as many as possible to do the same.

The only problem I have is that increasing fuel prices will affect EVERYONE financially. And I don't like being made to feel like a lay-about, materialistic, monster because I drive.
 
It is funny how people complaining about increases of fuel or food or energies. Where have been these petitions against house price increases which is more essential then fuel? Thanks to HPI we are in this blahblahblahblah...
 
Radik said:
It is funny how people complaining about increases of fuel or food or energies. Where have been these petitions against house price increases which is more essential then fuel? Thanks to HPI we are in this blah...

lol So when they start building more cheap housing they can deliver the 24 tonnes of building material on bikes to save on fuel costs :lol:
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top