We get treated like dirt, scum, stuff you wouldn’t want to scrape off the bottom off your shoes. Yet when the cost of petrol rises, who is it Joe Public expect to lead the protests against the prices? Us.
They treat us like dirt. We’'re socially unacceptable and usually referred to as “lorry morons” or worse. The very same people who are looking at us to lead the charge against the Govt are the very same people petitioning to have lorries banned from driving down their roads, parking overnight in the local coach parks, closing down OUR roadside cafes.
We were treated like this up to the 1997 fuel protests then magically we suddenly appeared to be everyones best buddy, people waving support at us from the roadsides. THen 10 minutes after they got what they wanted and the protests were over once again we went back to being scum.
Already people in the newsgroups uk.rec.driving and uk.transport are posting along the lines of “when the truckers go out in protest I’ll join them”. WELL STUFF THE DAMNED LOT OF THEM I SAY.
We do not gain in our wagepacket from the cost of fuel going up or down. Apart from owner drivers and small companies, it only affects those who can already more than afford the rise.
If they can’t be bothered to treat us with a little respect and civility the rest of the time then why should we bail them out now?
■■■■ Conor, don’t beat around the bush mate, say whats really on your mind 
What i could never figure out when i lived there was when the price of crude went up so did petrol at the pump, when it fell petrol didn’t. Crude oil has just reached the 1976 price again after being a lot lower for years, why has the price of petrol there got higher and higher while over here the price of petrol falls with the price of crude 
True, but the price of petrol (and I’m glad you said petrol this time Pat ) has’nt gone up by the same percentage in the UK as it has over here, and when it goes up over here it goes up by as much as 15 cents at a time, but when it comes down it comes down 1-2 cents at a time, it spends all week dropping maybe 2 cents every other day, but come Thurs/Fri it goes back up 10-15 cents in one go. So every week it goes up 15 cents but only comes down about 5-6 cents.
How much is it a gallon up there now Pat?, down here it is just hovering under the $2 mark for regular but is already over $2 for premium, it ain’t good my pick-up truck only gets 8-10 to the gallon Diesel is still around the $1.50 mark, but it is the highest it has ever been, even taking inflation into account.
Pat it’s quite easy to see why the price has remained high over here, the flamin tax is what does it, Petrol is now 81p per litre, of that 61p is tax to the government, each petrol station makes approx 2p per litre profit, the rest going to the Oil Companies, now if the oil companies are only getting around 18p per litre and make Billions of pounds profit each year, how much do the Government get? Bear in mind Crude is sold by the US$ which is currently hovering around $1.80 to £1.00 in trade, or US$1.70 to £1 for Tourists, 3 years ago it was only US$1.35 to £1.00 so really the price of crude has not risen that much as the rate of the dollar has compensated the price increase if you see what I mean.
Well it will take a ■■■■ big calculator to work it out, of course they always come back with the “Well the money has to come from Somewhere to Save the Earth or pay for health care or NHS” etc etc etc
But I agree with Conor, the motorists treats us like Dirt then expects us to protest for them, well as far as I’m concerned let them get on with it themselves until they accept that the roads are not just there for them.
Pat it’s quite easy to see why the price has remained high over here, the flamin tax is what does it,
Amen to that brother!
Speaking as a lorry driver, and a motorist, and as a member of joe public come to that, I’d like to think we’ll all get mad about it! Thieving scum the govt is!
Mal.
Boots O’Lead:
Cliff
My heart bleeds for you, $2 for a gallon (even a small yankee one) makes it about £1.20 which is about a third of what we are paying…so I don’t think you’ll get much sympathy from this side of the pond 
Mind you, your consumption is about three times worse so it evens out in the end. Ever thought about getting a Smart car, they do about 60 to the gallon (I think) you’d be quids in then
Jules
Boots of Lead,
The point I was trying to make was’nt anything to do with the disparity of our respective petrol prices, I was trying to draw attention to the spiralling prices over here and the lack of equivelent price rises over there, we are told that petrol is going up to record highs because of the price of crude, whicjh in my humble opinion means that would affect everybody somewhat equally the world over. Has UK petrol prices risen by over %100 in less than a year If I remember rightly this time last year when I was over for Truckfest I paid about 78-79 pence a litre, if your petrol had risen the same rate it has over here, it would now make petrol over there approx 1.60 a litre…has it risen that much …I think not!
As for me thinking about a Smart car, yes I have, then I woke up in a cold sweat but relief with the realisation that, the fact I had me become the laughing stock of the neighbourhood, blokes at work, entire State of Georgia, etc for trading in my Big 'ol Dodge Ram for one of those godawfulugly ‘Noddy’ cars was nothing more than a terrible nightmare…Phew!