Cut fuel tax

[TheSlash]

Had ths link forwarded to me.
http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Cut-fuel-price/
Needs no explination

 

[Aureol]

Don't drive yet, but duely signed

 

[Tom]

Action this petition will do ... 0.

Reaction from the government summed up in a few words...

"We know better than you, now go away."

 

[Mojo]

I'd rather they gave adequate investment into public transport from all taxes charged on the motorist, until that happens, I'll happily support this

I don't particularly like driving, but my weekly jaunts up the M5 (1hr 15min) certaintly beat a 20min walk, a 45min bus ride, a 1h30m train ride which is packed to the gunnels and a 15min car ride. And that's not counting the engineering works at the moment which mean the train takes 2hr! Also when I temporarily lose my Priv in Jnr my petrol & servicing costs will be cheaper than the train anyway - even the £6 AP tickets with Y-P (when you can find 'em!)

 

[devon_metro]

Anyway to discourage public transport gets no support from me.

Until I can drive that is...

 

[Coxster]

Signed, even if I do only pay £6 per 100 miles

 

[Mojo]

Is it really that low, Coxster? My car can get to Birmingham (80 miles) for £6!

 

[Coxster]

Is it really that low, Coxster? My car can get to Birmingham (80 miles) for £6!

That's only four fifths of the distance though It's probably mostly a steady speed rather than being in stop-start style town traffic (if that makes a difference?).

 

[ChrisCooper]

Signed it. I have little choice but to drive to work since to use public transport I'd have to set off nearly an hour earlier and get back nearly an hour later, including a fare walk at both ends (really great in the weather we're having at the moment). Also, I'm involved in bus preservation, so the cost of diesel is a big problem. If used a similar amount to last year, I anticipate the diesel bill for my bus to be not much short of £100 more, and despite not doing a great amount of milage diesel is the biggest expense. Naturally it won't get used as much. I hate to think the additional cost for transport museums, and of cource preserved railways diesel groups, although at least charities can claim back the VAT, but then it's on top of ever increasing costs in other areas. The group that my bus is part of is planning on applying for charitable status since just on diesel costs we'd make big savings, along with storage which is the second biggest expense. Just to make things worse, since most of the vehicles are post 1973, they arn't tax exempt, and under current rules will never be. Could be even worse though, at least we're not in London, so we don't have the LEZ to worry about.

 

[Metroland]

£6 to Birmingham? Sounds like it's too cheap, now where's the petition to put the price up a bit more make you petrolheads really scream

 

[Mintona]

I just passed my test today - now I gotta buy a car and insure it. I can't afford excessive petrol costs - so this gets a big sign from me.

 

[me123]

Congratulations Alistair!

I'll hopefully be able to drive in about 6 months, which will save me taking an hour long bus journey to school (for the last month or so of my education) and the prices do deter me. As much as I support public transport and use it as much as is possible, some journeys are only do-able in a car, or are more sensible in a car, and hence I choose to sign.

 

[W14Fishbourne]

Why do people happily accept rises in other taxes (or in their yield if they're charged on a percentage basis) but howl every time that fuel taxes are increased?

 

[466.networkers]

Congrats on passing your test Alistair!
I don't drive, I cycle (when my bike doesn't need repairs, which is weekly!) and train mostly everywhere. My monthly ticket from Sheerness-on-Sea to Sittingbourne (mainly for work) is just over £50 a month. At the current rate of petrol, it would cost me approximately £4.50 a day in fuel which in turn is £90 a month. Add on insurance and maintenance and it gets worse. In the end it is cheaper and better for the environment to get a bike and get the trains.

 

[me123]

Why do people happily accept rises in other taxes (or in their yield if they're charged on a percentage basis) but howl every time that fuel taxes are increased?

Probably because our fuel tax is just crazy as it is, so any larger increase is verging on robbery. I'm all for green tax, but most of the fuel tax certainly ain't green; it's closer to Brown

 

[W14Fishbourne]

Probably because our fuel tax is just crazy as it is, so any larger increase is verging on robbery. I'm all for green tax, but most of the fuel tax certainly ain't green; it's closer to Brown

The recent rise in fuel tax was only in line with inflation. The rest of the recent increase in fuel prices has been the result of demand forcing up world market prices. If you keep using so much petrol the price is bound to rise. If demand for petrol fell by 10% the cost would crash down to about 70p a litre.

 

[Tom B]

Public transport ought to improve. People who live in London have no right to moan about the cost of fuel - they don't need to use a private car, there is an excellent public transport system. Similarly in cities such as Edinburgh where it's dirt cheap and reliable.

However back at home, I used to do a journey which took about 2 hours by public transport, or 30 minutes in the car. The 2 hours was susceptible to being increased, the bus which took me to the station was often delayed (as it was straight off the depot), likewise the train ran 40 minutes late "due to the driver turning up late for work".

 

[merseytrains]

I can't drive (not old enough) but still, a 90 minutes bus trip is about 5 minutes in the car to school, so i'm in favour of the car. Last year I clocked up about 3000 miles on the bus(es) but in the car that would be about 2000 because the bus goes the long way round, and I hav 2 get 2 or 3 buses! So, guess what i'm going to do when i'm 17?

 

[thefab444]

We must be a very odd family. The only thing we use the car for is to go shopping twice a week (a journey of about 20 miles return) and for accessing certain veg positions in the country on weekends.

Where can I sign to increase fuel tax?

 

[Respite]

I have to drive to work most shifts as they are either early morning starts to work the actual first trains on my line to work (around 4:10am being the worst) or late finishes working the last trains on my line to home. Although I've often thought of failing the last wolves at codsall & walking home from there to avoid having to drive a train back to shrewsbury & then get in My car & drive 30 miles back to home.

But as for the price of fuel, well hopefully it may make people think about not using their cars as its just mental out there already. Something has got to be done as all this talk of lane widening/relief roads etc etc. Well there will be no place to go to soon bar motorway service stations etc etc.

Don't get me wrong I like my cars ( I have an MR2 ,a Jeep Wrangler for offroading & a Honda Fireblade for going stupidly fast on). But too many people these days have forgotten how to just walk places or use public transport. It's these gits clogging up the roads, mostly unable to actually drive properly anyway. SO then they have to put traffic calming measures up everywhere because these fools seem to crash on anything but a perfectly straight level road. Oh & dont even get me started on these idiots who drive 4x4's everyday, as I said I have one,but its only used to drive to events & actually offroad when I'm there. Its certainly not like hauling a couple of sprogs around in trying to out bling other soccor mums.

Put up fuel costs, & also set another level to target people who use large engined cars on a daily basis as there's too many people who are to loaded to care about slapping £100 of petrol in there stupid fake 4x4's at least 3 times a week.

Grrr

 

[W14Fishbourne]

I can't drive (not old enough) but still, a 90 minutes bus trip is about 5 minutes in the car to school, so i'm in favour of the car. Last year I clocked up about 3000 miles on the bus(es) but in the car that would be about 2000 because the bus goes the long way round, and I hav 2 get 2 or 3 buses! So, guess what i'm going to do when i'm 17?

2000 miles a year is about 15 miles per school day or 7½ miles in each direction. To do this distance in 5 minutes means that you will be averaging 90mph.

So, the answer to your question "So, guess what i'm going to do when i'm 17?" is (a) failing your driving test or (b) getting disqualified as soon as you pass your test".

 

[merseytrains]

2000 miles a year is about 15 miles per school day or 7½ miles in each direction. To do this distance in 5 minutes means that you will be averaging 90mph.

So, the answer to your question "So, guess what i'm going to do when i'm 17?" is (a) failing your driving test or (b) getting disqualified as soon as you pass your test".

Wrong. The car doesn't go the long way round, so the car's round trip is about 8 to 10 miles along fairly quiet country lanes, so the average speed is more 40mph. And, mum says it's more 10 minutes than 5 but call it 8.

 

[Nick W]

Petition duly signed, the government aren't getting out of their cockups that easily.

I don't drive, I cycle (when my bike doesn't need repairs, which is weekly!) and train mostly everywhere. My monthly ticket from Sheerness-on-Sea to Sittingbourne (mainly for work) is just over £50 a month. At the current rate of petrol, it would cost me approximately £4.50 a day in fuel which in turn is £90 a month. Add on insurance and maintenance and it gets worse. In the end it is cheaper and better for the environment to get a bike and get the trains.

I cycle and train just under 20 miles to school and back everyday from Ipswich - Colchester. It sounds like you are getting a very poor deal though, as if you take another person in your car it becomes cheaper. Oh yeah, I forgot, 2-3+ people in a car depending on the efficiency of the train is more environmentally friendly than the train...

 

[Mojo]

No it's not, as if nobody took the train, it would still run, whereas your car wouldn't run if you weren't in it!

Adding on additional weight in the form of more people is so miniscule, I won't calculate it.

 

[Nick W]

No it's not, as if nobody took the train, it would still run, whereas your car wouldn't run if you weren't in it!

Shame the RPI's, guards and BTP as well as the "faredogers are not true rail enthusiasts" band-wagon don't accept that argument :P

What about the car that you're still paying for it to be just sitting there...

Adding on additional weight in the form of more people is so miniscule, I won't calculate it.

Never cycled up a hill :P.

 

[O L Leigh]

If they decided to scrap the VED (tax disc to us mortals) and put the cost onto fuel, it would get my support. I believe that it should be those who use the roads who pay for them. Therefore, if you use the roads less you pay less. Equally, if you run a big heavy gas-guzzler then you pay more.

However, all this loses sight of the fact that the price of a litre of fuel has not gone up at a rate above inflation. I started driving 12 years ago at a time when unleaded was 51p per litre. But then, £12k was a good starting salary (though my first job paid just £9k) and you could buy a one bedroom flat for about £35k. By rights, petrol should be around the £1 per litre mark. In fact, there was a report on BBC Breakfast a couple of years back which confirmed that, adjusted for inflation, the cost of motoring had remained constant over the preceding 20 years where the cost of public transport had doubled.

The petition does not get my signature. Sorry.

one TN