Petrol prices.

[Guy Fawkes]

I thought that the price of fuel increased-decreased slowly as the crude is bought and then refined.

Yet it goes up straight away as prices of crude oil goes up when the stock they already have cost them the lower price

 

[Westdene Seagull]

Thats right, lets scrap the NHS, Police, Fire service and everything else they provide us with so we can cut the cost of petrol. Where do you think the money to start to pay that comes from (Income tax, rates, Vat, duty, extra Government borrowing, etc)

A slightly knee jerk reaction ! Nobody is proposing to scrap those services as far as I'm aware but tax / duty on fuel IS a government rip off. While the fuel companies are also ripping us off it is highly hypocritical of the government to accuse the fuel companies of it when they themselves are doing it. Thanks to the high tax everybody pays more for not only fuel but also nearly all other goods.

 

[vegster]

I bought petrol in Morrisons on Saturday night and it was £1.22.9 a litre, I thought that was pretty good until I heard about the £1.19 a litre, doh !

For reference, I was in France with friends last week and Diesel was 1.21 euros a litre which is just on £1 a litre compared to our Diesel which is hanging around £1.28 L !

 

[Raleigh Chopper]

Yet it goes up straight away as prices of crude oil goes up when the stock they already have cost them the lower price

Is the right answer. Not only petrol but gas and electricity too.
A total conspiracy by the companies and the government.
Because prices have been high they drop it by a few pence and expect us to be grateful.
And diesel is a total con as well.
I have had enough of the companies and the government raking in billions whilst the public get conned.
The government said they will keep an eye on it and they certainly have not, yet another lie from Cameron and Osborne.
But you have to ask why the public put up with it maybe as usual we just put the kettle on and have a nice cup of tea.
I am sick of being conned in this country especially as times have been so hard recently this and power could be the one thing the government could help us out with by telling the companies to play fair, but no any party that promised unequivocally to do that would probably get my vote. I am sceptical about labours promise to freeze prices, they have said nothing about fuel and the tories don't care anyway because the rich can afford it.

 

[seagull_in_malaysia]

Thats right, lets scrap the NHS, Police, Fire service and everything else they provide us with so we can cut the cost of petrol. Where do you think the money to start to pay that comes from (Income tax, rates, Vat, duty, extra Government borrowing, etc)

So fuel duty pays for all those services single-handedly?

My problem isn't with taxation, it is with the fact that they are profiteering by taxing a basic necessity excessively. Why not stick a 50p duty on every basic necessity then like food?

 

[saafend_seagull]

I bought petrol in Morrisons on Saturday night and it was £1.22.9 a litre, I thought that was pretty good until I heard about the £1.19 a litre, doh !

For reference, I was in France with friends last week and Diesel was 1.21 euros a litre which is just on £1 a litre compared to our Diesel which is hanging around £1.28 L !

Diesel is 1.12 euros here in Luxembourg so like 92p. I also pay no VAT on it and comes off gross salary with fuel card so probably around 55p.

 

[Dr. Notthenineo'clocknews]

Allegedly the price of a litre is one of the CHEAPEST in Europe before tax n duty, the thing that sits bad with me is (I believe) VAT is added to the duty as well

 

[Stat Brother]

I'm always amazed that people are so surprised by capitalism

That is true but as GF points out

Yet it goes up straight away as prices of crude oil goes up when the stock they already have cost them the lower price

It's a fine line (albeit the worlds finest line) between Capitalism and daylight robbery.


It's not as if capitalism wasn't making a tidy profit before the +22% price differential was added in it's favour.

 

[Guy Fawkes]

So fuel duty pays for all those services single-handedly?

My problem isn't with taxation, it is with the fact that they are profiteering by taxing a basic necessity excessively. Why not stick a 50p duty on every basic necessity then like food?

Why would I have mentioned the other sources of Government income if I was suggesting it all came from fuel duty.

Since when has owning a car been deemed a necessity and not a luxury? We have public transport instead or should we all have cars and scrap it to save money (but not the environment)

 

[sir albion]

Plenty of shareholder's have made a small fortune in the delay of passing it on to the consumer...Bloody typical and no surprise.

 

[Raleigh Chopper]

If we had a level of fuel taxation akin to other countries to Europe we would have the cheapest fuel of them all.
Do not look at it in any other way than yet another total rip off by the companies and the government.
Petrol should be around £1 a litre at the moment.
And I would love to know why diesel is so much more expensive when it used to be cheap as chips.

 

[Raleigh Chopper]

Allegedly the price of a litre is one of the CHEAPEST in Europe before tax n duty, the thing that sits bad with me is (I believe) VAT is added to the duty as well

That is true as I said above.

 

[Guy Fawkes]

If we had a level of fuel taxation akin to other countries to Europe we would have the cheapest fuel of them all.
Do not look at it in any other way than yet another total rip off by the companies and the government.
Petrol should be around £1 a litre at the moment.
And I would love to know why diesel is so much more expensive when it used to be cheap as chips.

How many other European countries have the same sort of state burden we have with our welfare system, etc?

Re: diesel, the number of cars using diesel has dramatically increased, pushing up the price due to supply and demand pressures

 

[mikeyjh]

That is true but as GF points out



It's a fine line (albeit the worlds finest line) between Capitalism and daylight robbery.


It's not as if capitalism wasn't making a tidy profit before the +22% price differential was added in it's favour.

Agreed, just pointing out that these companies will maximise their profits, I don't like it, but its not a surprise.

 

[beorhthelm]

So why hasdn't the price come down then as the price of oil has dropped?

prices have dropped, at least 10p since July. further, the short price spike in June wasnt reflected in pump prices, when the price hit about 115 and spent about 3 weeks over 110. av pump prices rose about a penny from may to July, not the 4.5% that crude prices went up. so to compare the current low to the year high is bit bit misleading.

currently looks like prices are lagging behind the crude price falls, but there is delay and one needs to count the price difference on the product component excluding the 58p duty, 5-8p cost of refining, distribution and retailer and VAT on top of it all. probably a couple of p "overpriced" this weekend.

 

[Raleigh Chopper]

How many other European countries have the same sort of state burden we have with our welfare system, etc?

Re: diesel, the number of cars using diesel has dramatically increased, pushing up the price due to supply and demand pressures

I agree with the diesel part and thought the same but would like to know how many cars/vans are diesel compared to petrol at a very rough guess diesel should be at least the same price as petrol taking into consideration diesel used to be so much cheaper than petrol.

 

[severnside gull]

The same companies using the "supply and demand" argument to justify higher diesel prices in the UK fail to apply the same criteria when trading anywhere else in the world where diesel is almost universally cheaper than unleaded fuels.

 

[Creaky]

I wouldn't sell something for a lower price than people are willing to pay so can hardly criticise the oil companies for charging what people are willing to pay.

 

[HawkTheSeagull]

I wouldn't sell something for a lower price than people are willing to pay so can hardly criticise the oil companies for charging what people are willing to pay.

Exactly this. They are gradually dropping too so dont be surprised if they hit 1.10 a litre by the end of the year.

 

[Scampi]

How many other European countries have the same sort of state burden we have with our welfare system, etc?

Good question, just had a quick look online and it would seem that nearly all the mature economies of Western Europe have, mostly down to aging populations. France unsurprisingly seems to have the biggest welfre budgets , but it's also a problem for Germany.