04/09/2010: "Election issues - petrol prices"

in 1997, when blair walked into downing street, in my area the price of a litre of petrol for the car was 65.9p
today it stands at Ł1.20 per litre

for me, petrol prices are a major issue... its price effects everything, food prices (in part) - adding cost to work and travel plans, etc.
the way it is taxed by the government is also a big issue.

- the price of petrol has almost doubled, yet the price of public transport has more than trebled in my area
- supermarkets and stand alone garages have been exploiting customers, putting up prices just a day before the budget or budget statement, then increasing the price again when the budget tax rise is announced (even when there isnt one announced!)
pricing competition out of business, then when pinned down on why two petrol stations are charging a different price when the wagon delivers to both on the same day, the public are given the excuse that "the more expensive petrol station is in an area with less competition!"

- the price rarely comes down
- the excuses given to justify prices are ridiculous!
its gone up because the pound is struggling against the euro
its gone up because the price of oil is shooting up
its gone up because the cost of refining the oil is increasing
its gone up because the government have put taxes up on it (in some cases to be fair, when they havent)
its gone up because the sales are flat
its gone up because supply is lower
its gone up because there is more demand
its gone up because vat has gone back up (which is a lie as petrol was not included in the vat reductions) - it didnt go down in the first place!
its gone up because we have to buy in advance and our price has increased between deliveries (complete rubbish, as i proved when my local petrol station had a delivery once every four days, all paid for in arrears, over a single 4 days period they increased the price 3 times on the same delivery!)

all complete pap... theres a reason why we dont have a way that the customer can see what the price should be, because they are all at it, ripping off customers, and the government desperately need the revenue from the tax imposed upon it as they have borrowed so much.
it needs getting to grips with once and for all - customer is king and we should be given a clear way of identifying when we are being ripped off

petrol prices, and indeed the tax take from the motorist are at record levels.
the apparent government scheme to help new car buyers did nothing to help anyone and was a complete false promise.

all that happened was that the dealers all raised their prices by the Ł1000-Ł2000 discount value, of which Ł1000 had to be discounted by the dealerships, so they lost nothing.
for anyone without a 10 year old trade in, they had to stump up a horrendous price increase after being misled into buying a car as prices were falling.
of course, the higher the price of a car, the higher the tax take via vat on the sale for the government.

in 2007-2008 the government took more than Ł45 BILLION from the motorist in taxation, this was said to be for "transport projects" and "green projects" - utter tosh!
that same year, the government spent less than Ł8 BILLION on transport projects - those of you who are regulars will know - i asked our labour mp where the rest of the money had gone, and was given no answer in three attempts.
the only response i got was to be accused that i wanted to take money away from and close hospitals and schools (both of which have been extensively financed by the private finance initiatives PFI - which have been kept off the country's books and are not included on britain's debt figures) i havent even counted the interest that the public are not allowed to know about!

also to be taken into account
the amount of money needed for transport, to and from the workplace - both by car or public transport
this comes out of people's pockets, any job now must have this factored in.

theres no disputing, that which ever party gets in on may 7th, will have to make huge cuts to spending to try and control our debt and reduce the country's borrowing each year - more than Ł160 BILLION in the past 12 months (without interest added) - the tax take for petrol and all forms of essential transport, is going to need to be huge, which will hit each and everyone of us.
credible plans are thin on the ground from the parties so far, although the conservatives have said their fuel escalator will be brought in, which will reduce the tax take on petrol when it rises and increase the tax take when the price comes down, in an effort to at least stabilise the price at the pumps.

the problems of the customer being ripped off all the time, should be a priority, it affects every single one of us!

one final thought:
labour said that they cannot control petrol prices directly a few years ago, yet when the price of oil was much higher than it is now, and the people were blockading petrol stations and refineries, as if by magic, the price of petrol at the pumps started to (and for a while stayed) lower!

is it time for direct action by the public?