Okay whos in the UK got some petrol?

[The PIT]

looks like things are beginning to bite. At least I had a full tank before the trouble started. How long will it take before the Goverment backs down?
Apparently they can reduce the price by 8p a litre and they will still meet there budget requirements.

[SteveC]

I hope the blockades keep going until petrol's down to the 55.9p a litre the dump-the-pump people want.
Blair reckons that this will all be over in 24 hours - I don't think so! What's he gonna do? He reckons he's getting the police to move tankers through blockades? If theyt get through, all we need is a few tractors blocking the roads or just going very slow along them to stop the tankers. The police aren't going to start dishing out ticket after ticket for obstructing the highway as this will create thousands of court cases, which will all have appeals. It's just not gonna happen!

I now do not know of a single petrol station with unleaded or diesel in South East Essex. Some still have 4 star though.

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Cheers,
Steve

"Life is what we make of it, yet most of us just fake"

[Joel]

What's going on guys?

Joel

[SteveC]

Joel - We (the UK public) are fed up of paying nearly £1 a litre or petrol (Over £4 a gallon, so that must be over $6.4 a gallon) and so loads of truckers, farmers etc have blockaded in all the petrol tankers in their depots, and also started a Go-slow march on the motorways, going at about 20 miles per hour causing havoc.
Well, afer this started on Friday, there is basically no petrol left in the UK (e.g. Shell UK has 30 stations out of 1100 left open) apart from some reserves for public transport and emergency services.

Supermarkets are having delivery troubles too now and as well as the panic buying of the petrol, people are panic buying food too!

What I find quite interesting is the totally laid-back attitude of the fuel companies. BP and shell are saying that they have no intention of getting tankers out because 'of the safety of their drivers'. This is complete rubbish as really what they're doing is protesting themselves against the government by not helping the problem in the slightest.

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Cheers,
Steve

"Life is what we make of it, yet most of us just fake"

[This message has been edited by SteveC (edited 12 September 2000).]

[Liquid Snake]

Wow, $6.4 a gallon? And I thought $1.89/gallon was expensive...

[Taz]

Whilst I think everyone agrees with the protest, it's unfortunately hurting the wrong people. I'm sure the Goverment can get ample suplies of fuel for themselves should they need it but Hospitals are having to ration theirs. Food supplies could soon be affected and people living in remote areas are all ready isolated. It could cause small businesses like mine to close thus causing unemployment. I don't think they have really thought through the damage their actions could cause. They have made their point so they should let fuel supply restart but only on the understanding that Mr Blair is going to do something long term to reduce the unrealistic fuel prices.

[SteveC]

Because of the shortage, reports of £11 a gallon have been made, that's what? Over $17 per gallon!

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Cheers,
Steve

"Life is what we make of it, yet most of us just fake"

[ALBPM]

Hang in there guys

Hey, we Yanks got in to it over Taxes with your Gov't awhile back. If the petrol blockades don't work just dump all their Bloody Tea in the harbour. That got their attention.

Paul

[Thundrchez]

Just a brief note to clear things up on where it is going. In the UK, the price of petrol is:
75% - tax
25% - cost of fuel and running the business

IMHO, it is absolutely ludicrous for the tax to be 3 times the cost of the petrol, or anything else for that matter. The greedy politician thieves might as well be holding a gun to your head as they empty everything out of your pockets. Every so often, there needs to be a revolution which begins by killing all the politicians.

[ALBPM]

Those Bastards.......Dump the Tea, Mates!!!

Paul

[Pace]

I don't mind paying 75% tax on my petrol - if they are taking £3 out of £4 petrol then ok! Yes it seems harsh but if they aren't taking it on petrol it'll be on something else - Gov'ts don't (though probably not "can't") cut taxes and boost spending. The move taxes behind a smokescreen and do the same thing with cuts in spending. Listen to a Tory talking about this and you'll see what I mean. Not that they are any different but it shows what goes on beyond the new Labour hype and budgets.

However, as with every other person it's not just the taxes - it's the taxes on the rise in the cost. The Gov't petrol revenue would be £5.5bn without these increases - they will now generate over £6bn - a 10% boost in revenue. What are they doing with this?!

I also think insurance and banks are bad people too. Microsoft pay good programmers to write millions of lines of code and charge us £100 for a copy of it. Banks charge us for nothing (transaction charges which are dealt with by computers are a little off). Insurance companies quite clearly rip us off too.

Anyway - it's the petrol revenue I'm on! So - get everybody off those blockades - they are pi55ing off almost everyone in the country I think - yet they claim everyone is behind them - in a bloody queue, that is! I agree with their cause but their stupid actions could leave the Gov't looking bad if they back down - or bad if they stay stubborn. Mr Blair hasn't done much for Britain but this could go down in history as one of the worst Gov'ts in UK (world?) history due to people thinking they are hard done too. Go to Africa people and then you'll see life - just - people looking for food, water, medical supplies - and rarely getting them - dying from common diseases - we don't know how well off we are.

Better finish here before I start on my cat - she's decided to eat a rabbit she can't digest and show me the non-digested rabbit in all it's technicolor glory on my carpet! Damn.

Some smiles to brighten this slight rant up

Paul.

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[Aerobed]

yes,

damn those governments for using our tax money to pay for things like roads, health care, unemployment pay, defense, helping out the third world and many other things.

While I agree with you the price for petrol is very high we must not forget wy we pay taxes. It is to help those less fortunate than we are and to ensure the quality of certain public services. We all managed to buy a PC with a nice Matrox card in it despite all those damn taxes, so keep it in perspective people. ;-)

so pace, I hope i helped get your point across.

[Kaj]

In the Netherlands, the same thing is happening; A gallon of Euro lead-free goes for $4 about now.

It doesn't affect me directly, not yet; I don't have a car, let alone a license to drive one
However, I hope that this matter will be solved in a matter of days, because the risk of following the UK's "example" becomes greater every day.

[Raptor^]

Erm surely that should be the French example?
They were the first to get pissed at fuel prices and start blockading stuff.

I am in complete agreement with the blockades. For anyone living in a rural area there is truely no alternative to using a car and driving a fair distance to work, to shops etc. If I was being taxed because of my race/gender/colour their would be outrage, but it is fine to tax people for living in the country where there is NO way to get anywhere without using a car.

Taz - while I understand your point about small businesses, the UK road hauliers have been complaining for many years that the cost of fuel is putting them out of business. The government has decided to ignore them, so they took the only course of action left open to them.

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P3-700E@933, Abit BF6, G400 MAX, 8.6 gig Seagate, 8.6 gig WD, SBLive 1024, 256Mb PC133... Logitech Optical Wheel Mouse, Keyb, Stuff

[Vlip]

Why is it not possible to simply discuss on those issues instead of taking the country in hostage?
Why is it working nowhere but in my country?

Sometimes humans seems strange to me.
And the weirdest of them are french people, can't get their way of thinking.

Vlip

P.S: Europe has still a long way to go.