If I remember rightly it was Blair in charge during the fuel strike, it was a labour government in charge for the last god knows how many years whose poicy of if you can’t afford it , borrow. It makes me laugh that people were crying out before the election that we needed to pay off that debt and we understood that would mean hardship, when it gets hard everyone starts whinging !! I’m not a Tory, Liberal or Labour because none of them represent me or my thoughts and wishes but what’s right is right, Thatcher did a good job overall of getting the country back on it’s feet and modernising it after more years of borrowing and strikes during Labour rule. The world was changing, going computerised and some jobs were antiquated. Yes, the Tories have screwed up too, and as I say I am not a Tory, I just wish there was another party that really represented the people, not these stuck up University ■■■■■ that call themselves politicians, they were all best mates at Uni.If you believe in something you should fight for it and protest. We need the whole country on this one though, not just leaving it to the truckers.
philtvc65:
We need the whole country on this one though, not just leaving it to the truckers.
+1
I also do not feel ANY political party represents the working person, I can only see they represent the BIG 1%
Also agree that Thatcher did do well in getting this country back on its feet, shame to see her go on the Poll Tax riots
Can’t agree about Thatcher.All she did was sell the utilities and knacker the industry in this country.She sacked the ministers in her own party who didn’t agree with her.
I haven’t any faith in the other parties either,as far as I’m concerned they are all career politicians in it to line their own pockets.
Agree Thatcher cocked up with utilities, but the unions needed a good kicking; Comrade Scargill had a lot to answer for, we didn’t need all those coal mines, a bit like we don’t need useless jobs in local government like Diversity Managers and “Portfolio for young people”…
The whole lot needs dismantling and start again from scratch 
Cameron’s my local MP who does a lot of good around here, but when fuel’s getting dearer and we’re wasting money defending Afghanistan, why is he putting all his energy into gay marriages ffs? Why do you have to be a bum loving ■■■■■■ with a rag around your head to get represented in this country?
http://www.fairfueluk.com/prospectus.html
Supported by FTA RHA and RAC and Many more Motorists and Truckers, Its TIME for CHANGE
And to be Honest, OLYMPICS YEAR - The best time to show our discontent with the current position of the UK workforce
LandyLad:
For what it’s worth,my opinion is that the price of fuel is mostly due to the price charged by the organisations involved in trading crude oil.
You seem to have a bit of misunderstanding of basic junior school mathematics if you think that 65% of the total cost being tax therefore means that total cost is mostly due to the price charged by the producers and suppliers for the price of the product itself. 
The clue is in the price of red diesel compared to road diesel. 
Carryfast:
LandyLad:
For what it’s worth,my opinion is that the price of fuel is mostly due to the price charged by the organisations involved in trading crude oil.
You seem to have a bit of misunderstanding of basic junior school mathematics if you think that 65% of the total cost being tax therefore means that total cost is mostly due to the price charged by the producers and suppliers for the price of the product itself.
The clue is in the price of red diesel compared to road diesel.
i find red diesel to be a bit pricy nowadays.
you’re right, the tax is the main burden that we have. but take a look at white diesel prices from oil producing countries that arn’t part of OPEC.
Belarus 60 cents per litre.
Russia is even less.
we could have had similar prices, but the tories wanted to privatise everything, then realised that they didn’t have anything, so they filled the gap with tax, and tax on top of tax.
Denis F:
Silver_Surfer:
Listen, it won’t work, the price is the price, you need to put your rates up to reflect the price. Market forces will dictate the price of fuel & the price of road haulage, this is capitalism. The price of fuel goes up, the price of road haulage should go up, simple equation.+1
The problem isn’t one of market forces at all it’s one of a deliberate policy of taxing freight off of road transport onto rail and air transport because that’s where the government’s big business backers are.Putting the price of road transport up to match the costs of over taxed road fuel is just what the government want you to do.If the price of road haulage goes up more customers will just walk away not pay it.In just the same way that more people would prefer to leave the car parked up at home instead of paying a price that they aren’t prepared to pay.In which case the choice is between get the tax removed or eventually go under.
You’ve forgotten the fact that market forces mean can mean having the price you’re asking for refused not just accepted.
limeyphil:
Carryfast:
LandyLad:
For what it’s worth,my opinion is that the price of fuel is mostly due to the price charged by the organisations involved in trading crude oil.
You seem to have a bit of misunderstanding of basic junior school mathematics if you think that 65% of the total cost being tax therefore means that total cost is mostly due to the price charged by the producers and suppliers for the price of the product itself.
The clue is in the price of red diesel compared to road diesel.
i find red diesel to be a bit pricy nowadays.
you’re right, the tax is the main burden that we have. but take a look at white diesel prices from oil producing countries that arn’t part of OPEC.
Belarus 60 cents per litre.
Russia is even less.we could have had similar prices, but the tories wanted to privatise everything, then realised that they didn’t have anything, so they filled the gap with tax, and tax on top of tax.
^+ 1
The fact is we were a major oil producer during the 1970’s self sufficient in road fuel and what did the government do.They flogged the stuff off and charged us the same for it as OPEC wanted for theirs and then to add insult to injury they taxed the zb out of it so we ended up paying more for our own oil than Luxembourg and Germany did then to add even more insult to injury they blamed British workers for being militant zb’s for asking for more wages to pay for it. 
PinkLadyTrucker:
http://www.fairfueluk.com/prospectus.htmlSupported by FTA RHA and RAC and Many more Motorists and Truckers, Its TIME for CHANGE
And to be Honest, OLYMPICS YEAR - The best time to show our discontent with the current position of the UK workforce
Fair Fuel is just a bs idea to try to get a pointless small reduction in a tax that shouldn’t be there at all.
PinkLadyTrucker:
philtvc65:
We need the whole country on this one though, not just leaving it to the truckers.+1
I also do not feel ANY political party represents the working person, I can only see they represent the BIG 1%
Also agree that Thatcher did do well in getting this country back on its feet
The only one’s whov’e benfited from Thatcher were her commie mates in Russia and China.
As a private motorist I’d like cheaper fuel but if say they knocked 10p a litre off fuel I guarantee haulage rates would be knocked back to reflect this within a few weeks. To a haulier it doesn’t matter if fuel is 50p or £5 a litre the fact is haulage rates are to low.
For those who like facts and Figures to back the Protest
kr79:
As a private motorist I’d like cheaper fuel but if say they knocked 10p a litre off fuel I guarantee haulage rates would be knocked back to reflect this within a few weeks. To a haulier it doesn’t matter if fuel is 50p or £5 a litre the fact is haulage rates are to low.
I f they knocked 10 p a litre off fuel it wouldn’t make the slightest difference.It needs all of the taxes removed completely.The taxes add more than 100 % to the cost of the product.
If you’re right about haulage rates then being knocked back from what they are now in line with that then you’d almost be paying the zb customers to haul their loads for them. 
However if you think that haulage rates are too low and if you’re happy enough with road fuel taxation as it stands then why don’t you raise your rates in line with the type of figure that you’d like to see and then see what happens.
Meanwhile those who don’t agree with you can get their fuel at 50 p per litre and then decide on the best rate to charge after that. 
Carryfast:
LandyLad:
For what it’s worth,my opinion is that the price of fuel is mostly due to the price charged by the organisations involved in trading crude oil.
You seem to have a bit of misunderstanding of basic junior school mathematics if you think that 65% of the total cost being tax therefore means that total cost is mostly due to the price charged by the producers and suppliers for the price of the product itself.
The clue is in the price of red diesel compared to road diesel.
I know that when you say ‘total cost’, you mean end price. That’s something we all say colloquially and I don’t argue against that point.
I dont exactly know what the tax percentage is, but I believe you and other posters when you suggest it is about 65%.
Lets say tax is about 65% of the END price. So that means the tax on the base price is about 200% - agreed? (in principle for now).
52 pence base price PLUS 200% of 52 pence (£1.04) = £1.56
Using my infant school mathematics I would like to point out that any percentage of anything is merely an illusion.
Real Money Amounts are what real people and businesses deal with, not fancy notions or percentages which distort peoples perceptions of things.
If my base price of fuel is 20 pence per litre and I add tax at 200%, then I add 40 pence to the end price - now 60 pence.
If my base price is £1 per litre and I add 200% tax, then I add £2 to the end price - now £3.
Who decides on the base price■■? Answer is the OPEC guys.
When they increase the base price by 10 pence, the tax amount rises by 20 pence.
So the more the base price is, the more the ACTUAL pennies in tax is added to the end price FOR THE SAME TAX RATE.
What the exact tax percentage rate is doesn’t matter because even if it was 1000% tax, then the tax on 10 pence would be £1 and the end price would be £1.10. I would pay that even though the tax rate was 1000%.
If the base price was £1 and the tax rate was only 1%, then the end price would only be £1.01 I would pay that, no problem.
But the govt. is very unlikely to drop the rate down to 1% even if we shut the country down for a week.
Its the base price of the fuel that determines the end pump price.
If the robbing (^&* government dropped the fuel tax to ZERO, what would be the price of fuel a month or so after?
My guess is that it would be about the same as it is now because the OPEC guys know we are paying that amount now, so we will pay it anyway. They will put the base price up.
Your interpretation of the end price is that the ratio of tax to base price is much greater than the base price and the government gets more per litre than the OPEC guys do. You are absolutely correct in that, but the people who actually pay the money for the fuel would prefer the base price to be down at 30 pence per litre. If tax was 200%, then at the pumps it would be about 90 pence.
But then the OPEC guys would put their prices up because we can afford up to £1.50 a litre can’t we because we pay that now.
No doubt I’ll hear from you soon. 
So there aint nothing wrong with my maths, I always work on the amount paid, not percentages.
LandyLad:
Carryfast:
LandyLad:
For what it’s worth,my opinion is that the price of fuel is mostly due to the price charged by the organisations involved in trading crude oil.
You seem to have a bit of misunderstanding of basic junior school mathematics if you think that 65% of the total cost being tax therefore means that total cost is mostly due to the price charged by the producers and suppliers for the price of the product itself.
The clue is in the price of red diesel compared to road diesel.
I know that when you say ‘total cost’, you mean end price. That’s something we all say colloquially and I don’t argue against that point.
I dont exactly know what the tax percentage is, but I believe you and other posters when you suggest it is about 65%.
Lets say tax is about 65% of the END price. So that means the tax on the base price is about 200% - agreed? (in principle for now).
52 pence base price PLUS 200% of 52 pence (£1.04) = £1.56Using my infant school mathematics I would like to point out that any percentage of anything is merely an illusion.
Real Money Amounts are what real people and businesses deal with, not fancy notions or percentages which distort peoples perceptions of things.
If my base price of fuel is 20 pence per litre and I add tax at 200%, then I add 40 pence to the end price - now 60 pence.
If my base price is £1 per litre and I add 200% tax, then I add £2 to the end price - now £3.Who decides on the base price■■? Answer is the OPEC guys.
When they increase the base price by 10 pence, the tax amount rises by 20 pence.
So the more the base price is, the more the ACTUAL pennies in tax is added to the end price FOR THE SAME TAX RATE.
What the exact tax percentage rate is doesn’t matter because even if it was 1000% tax, then the tax on 10 pence would be £1 and the end price would be £1.10. I would pay that even though the tax rate was 1000%.
If the base price was £1 and the tax rate was only 1%, then the end price would only be £1.01 I would pay that, no problem.
But the govt. is very unlikely to drop the rate down to 1% even if we shut the country down for a week.Its the base price of the fuel that determines the end pump price.
If the robbing (^&* government dropped the fuel tax to ZERO, what would be the price of fuel a month or so after?
My guess is that it would be about the same as it is now because the OPEC guys know we are paying that amount now, so we will pay it anyway. They will put the base price up.Your interpretation of the end price is that the ratio of tax to base price is much greater than the base price and the government gets more per litre than the OPEC guys do. You are absolutely correct in that, but the people who actually pay the money for the fuel would prefer the base price to be down at 30 pence per litre. If tax was 200%, then at the pumps it would be about 90 pence.
But then the OPEC guys would put their prices up because we can afford up to £1.50 a litre can’t we because we pay that now.
No doubt I’ll hear from you soon.
So there aint nothing wrong with my maths, I always work on the amount paid, not percentages.
If OPEC (and every other oil producer) were to start charging the whole world what the Brits are presently stupid enough to charge themselves for road fuel at the pump after taxes,just because the Brits finally realised that it was their government who was robbing them not (so much) the Arabs,then you’d probably see the whole economic system of the whole world collapse.Starting with the air transport industry.
The difference is the Arabs know it and there’s no way that they would be as stupid,as the British government is in wrecking the British economy,by then wrecking the whole world economy,including their own,instead.So your maths is definitely a lot worse than the average camel driving Arab.
Hiya Carryfast. Knew you’d be back as quick as a flash! 
QUOTE"
If OPEC (and every other oil producer) were to start charging the whole world what the Brits are presently stupid enough to charge themselves for road fuel at the pump after taxes,just because the Brits finally realised that it was their government who was robbing them not (so much) the Arabs,then you’d probably see the whole economic system of the whole world collapse.Starting with the air transport industry.
The difference is the Arabs know it and there’s no way that they would be as stupid,as the British government is in wrecking the British economy,by then wrecking the whole world economy,including their own,instead.So your maths is definitely a lot worse than the average camel driving Arab.
" END QUOTE
I dont think your counter argument shows any defect in my maths at all.
What your counter argument suggests is that I am blaming the wrong people for the end price.
I have simply taken out the myth of percentages from the calculations.
YES our government IS robbing us all soft to have a pool of money that they can dish out little tiny bits of to us and fool us that they are looking after us. WE all really do know that they are not looking after us at all.
YES they DO take a massive amount of money from us in fuel tax. (Robbing thieves)
But if the base price was something like 30 pence per litre, then we would only pay 90 pence per litre.
The government COULDNT put the tax up to 300% or 400% because that would be political suicide.
The percent number would enrage more people then they would like.
BUT if they keep tax at 200% and OPEC puts its prices up by only 10 pence, the govt. will get an extra 20 pence for doing NOTHING.
Ha Ha, if the OPEC guys DROP their price by 10p per litre, the Govt. will get 20 pence LESS. Ha Ha Ha on them!
See you soon.