Fuel Protests

I doubt they will come to much either, the government loves ot claim the price of a barrel of oil is why the prices are so high, but fail to mention a good 80% of the cost is Tax (Duty and VAT)

If there was a valid alternative to the car id happily use it, but there isnt so im tied to a car to do my job, unless i go into London, then i can use the train and pay through the nose to park and use that method of transport too lol cant win, if it moves TAX IT lol
 
I currently spend about £200 a week on diesel, so any reduction would be welcome. To combat the fuel increases, my charges have risen however there`s only so much I can put on a bill before I don`t get the job.
 
14.12.07 Protesters to fire “warning shot” to the government.

Transaction 2007, the group behind the fuel protests taking place around the country tomorrow, have said that the protests are aiming to “fire a warning shot to the government.” David Handley, spokesperson for group, warned, “it's our intention to come back in January and let's put it like this, it won't be quite as peaceful as it's going to be tomorrow.”

He continued: “we have got contingency plans for where the next stage of this will go. I'm obviously not going to discuss that because the next element has got to be a surprise. That's the only way that you'll have the impact with government to make them realise that you mean business.”

Handley hopes the protests will show politicians how angry motorists are at rising fuel prices. Transaction 2007 blame the current tax system, whereby duty and VAT are added the price of petrol. He said: “we have not got an issue with tax if tax is totally transparent. It's got to be fair, it's got to be shown that the money that's drawn from the revenue from fuel, should be used to create a better infrastructure, better investment in transport and not used to prop up the inefficient management of the cash flow from government.”

The protests tomorrow will start at 10am at fuel refineries and depots across the country, including those in Manchester, Southampton, Liverpool, Essex, Cardiff, and Lincolnshire. Despite the threat of further, potentially more disruptive action early next year, Handley maintains that tomorrow's action will be peaceful. Transaction 2007 were involved in the fuel protests in 2000, where lorry drivers blockaded refineries, leading to nationwide fuel shortages. But Handley maintained: “we were accused last time by a lot of people who didn't want to take part of not doing it in the correct manner. This time we're doing it in the correct way. We're sending a message in a peaceful form, but if people don't address that and listen to us then 2000 is likely to happen all over again.”

Early indications from polls and comments on our blog have suggested that whilst motorists are angry at rising fuel prices, opinions are divided as to whether targeting refineries is the best method of protest. In addition, only 183 people have said they will be protesting tomorrow. It has been suggested that it would be better to send a petition to the government or protest in London, because they are responsible for the tax on fuel.

However, Stephen Joseph from the Campaign for Better Transport believes that reducing tax on fuel would be the worst thing the government could do. “It gives motorists the false sense of security that they can continue to drive around in their gas guzzlers. High tax acts as an incentive for motorists to switch to greener alternatives.” He continued, “fuel tax in the UK is not drastically higher than the rest of Europe. We are now only around 1% higher than countries such as Germany, France and the Netherlands.”

So are we paying too much in tax on our fuel in the UK? Should we ensure that all our tax gets spent on motoring? Or should we continue to tax at the current rate to encourage greener alternatives?


from Petrolprices.com
 
having a protest isn;t going to hide the fact that oil is at a record high at the moment, ok the tax is high, but that was high 1 year ago and the tax incraese since then has been 2p. The rise due to oil increases is more like 20p.

Ok I think tax sucks, but the oil producers aren't going to produce anymore cause they can make loads of money from us.
 
MM has it right. fuel costs go up. transport prices go up. small hauliers go under.
big companies get the work.
they CAN charge customers more.
they pass costs onto consumer. ie us.
i work for a small transport company who arent replacing staff as they leave, expecting other staff to share the workload. this is mainly due to increased fuel costs. as a result, more staff are leaving.
i,m looking for alternative work, as i cant see it lasting long before we shut down.
dont forget that the high prices of fuel in the uk , is mainly down to our excessive high fuel taxes.
just check out fuel prices in the rest of europe.
 
Pity the UK fuel protect did not have the effect of the one in Italy last week, no fuel no food in the shops Fiat forced to close due to lack of parts the borders blocked for days, that how to make a government listen to the people.


As for bio-fuels, yes a good idea in theory but it has now been confirmed that one of the effects of global warming is that people in poorer country's are set to starve because more land is used to grow bio-fuel crops than for food crops.

Now we should look at invest more in new technology so we are less dependent on oil. If anyone has watched the US 2008 election debate , this was a big thing. they want the US to be oil self dependent by 2020, and have no oil imports at all, it will help thier economy and make the middle east a problem of the past.
 
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