"Tim Hobbs" <
[email protected]> wrote in message
news:
[email protected]...
> On Tue, 6 Sep 2005 11:33:38 +0000 (UTC), "Badger"
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>
>>"Tim Hobbs" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>>news:[email protected]...
>>> >when put into perspective you can see the huge increase, just because
>>> >we've
>>>>been paying the equivelent of around 6 dollars a gallon for the last
>>>>year
>>>>dosent matter, we've been paying that ammount for ages,
>>>
>>> Have you not noticed the 20-25% increase in the last 12 months or so?
>>>
>>> I paid 99.9 for diesel yesterday, same time last year it was about
>>> 80p.
>>
>>Sorry, but I genuinely think it's about time there was another fuel
>>strike,
>>just to ram the message home to the robbing barsteward government!!
>>Badger.
>>
>
> Given the personal cost to me of the last one I cannot agree. It
> achieved nothing and hurt small businesses disproportionately. When
> you've spent 20K on an exhibition stand in a deserted NEC you tend
> only to have negative thoughts about bully-boys in trucks acting
> without any democratic mandate. Add in the other business we lost and
> frankly I'd rather cough up for the fuel.
I hear and accept your comments Tim, but the only way I can see this
government backing down on fuel taxation is to hit them hard with a massive
unified public "voice". If it takes action on a scale such as bringing the
country's transportation links to a standstill, then the pressure placed
upon the government by commerce and industry would be enough to do the job,
I reckon. It was/is unfortunate that the smaller businesspeople will always
be the first to feel the pinch, but you can bet as soon as the big-guns
start to see it causing ripples to their multi-billion profits they will
apply more pressure to the government than we, the people, ever could.
Unfortunately, and I do genuinely sympathise, there are people who will be
hurt financially along the way for the "greater good". Try living in a
remote area where you have no choice of public transport, and fuel prices
that are above the national average. My local filling station is now over
£1.02 per litre of unleaded, the recent increase by the oil companies is
only a couple of pence, the rest is taxation!! And the owner of the local
station expects me to stay loyal to her, so that she doesn't go out of
business leaving only the big supermarkets to then hike all their prices up!
I' too, am self employed and if car usage drops, so does the number of
vehicles requiring me to service/repair them, so I can see both sides.
I believe that had the truckers stuck it out for another week last time
round, the government would have had no other option but to reconsider their
fuel taxation stance before anarchy descended upon them. Any ideas of
hitting the petrol stations with "don't buy from this brand for the rest of
the year" is a joke, all you are doing is ultimately putting the staff out
of a job as all the companies have mutual shared transport and supply
arrangements these days. A mate of mine is a tanker driver, running out of
Grangemouth, and he takes a BP marked lorry and fills up all brands of
tanks, including the supermarkets. Government will only take notice of
industry/commerce complaining bitterly, and the only way that will happen is
if they are financially hurt.
Badger.
