Making people think about consumption is a very good thing and might stop people buying stupid cars like the Range Rover Sport but it should not be just to line the coffers of the treasury IMHO.

A healthy debate!

trouble is that if you can affoard to buy a big and/or powerful car then there is a good chance that you can also affoard to fill up the fuel tank!!!

And as for an extra £100 in road tax baing a deterent against spending £40,000 + on a gas guzzler the dream on.........

I read that not as much diesel was made as petrol therefore refining costs were higher. Sounds like pants.

It was taxed lower until lots of people started switching to diesel and Gov realised it was missing out on pennies so it ramped up the tax under the excuse that diesel is dirty therefore evil.

ULSD was more expensive than normal derv as it required an extra stage to reduce the sulphur. This put the price up of derv relative to 4 star and standard unleaded.

Now unleaded has to be ULS too it has the same extra stages and so costs just as much if not more to refine.

Refining derv is cheaper as it is a byproduct of other stages and even if you do specifically crack to make it, the chain lengths that are acceptable in derv are much greater than the very limited lengths acceptable to make petrol

Therefore less stages are required and cheaper catalysts can be used, so a lower overall cost per L is the end result.

I think this is the fourth time the price of fuel has been discussed on here in the last few months. yes there is a set fuel duty on fuel, and yes there is vat as well. but at the moment it is the fuel companies putting the price up not the government.

and as said before get used to it going up, at the moment fuel is cheap, it hasn't even kept up with inflation, BUT in three years time the world will be using more fuel than it can actually supply so expect to see prices rocket upwards the nearer you get to this time, it won't be going up a few pence at a time it will be going up by £s per litre as the law of supply and demand hits.....so if you want to make a long trip in three years time you should start saving NOW

With a great deal of respect I can't see this being allowed to happen. If your premise was to hold true it would lead to hyper infation due to exponential increases in tranport costs.

OPEC is a cartel and all this nonsense about dwinding supplies is nonsense. There are billionof gallons under China and the Arctic. They don't tell you this becasue they want to keep prices up. Neither will the govenment because of all this green hysteria and of course the Greenpeace and the crackpots are far more important than the hard pressed public.

If the government were'nt after our money,

then why, if you use veggie oil instead of derv and declair it,

does the government tax it so much making it just as expencive as derv.

Why dont the government encourage farmers to grow Oil Seed Rape.

This would keep alot of farmers in business, as farms are closing everyday.

Also seeing as we would'nt be as dependant on other countrys and oil companies, fuel prices could drop...

Can anyone tell me why Diesel fuel incurs a higher rate of tax than petrol from our robbing government. It surely can't be for environmental reasons as the engnes are more efficient and put out less CO2.:confused:

Is it the government at all or is it the fuel companies taking advantage of the Diesels increased popularity? I'm (only) 30 but I can remember when Derv was 20p a litre cheaper than Petrol. I persnally think £1.06 that I am paying for regualar or £1.13 for V-Power that mainly use is outrageous.

Not just us motorist who are been stung, people who use fuel for home heating also.

Winter months mean more demand so greedy suppliers up the price!!!

End users are just a cash cow to oil companies and the government.

Can't say why but has anyone noticed the differential between Petrol and Diesel now the prices have lowered.

Over the years 2005-7 the 80-90p prices of Diesel was always about 2-3p higher than Petrol.

The prices hiked to £1.30 for Diesel in 2008 and £1.17 for petrol

Now Jan 2009 prices have come down to 86p for petrol and 98p for diesel.

Somehow over a year diesel has become 12p more expensive.

The cost of production story didn't wash and the supply/demand doesn't stand to the historic evidence.

I don't believe there's a credible honest reason for this just wonder what's really going on..especially as the disparity hasn't happened in EU.

If the government were'nt after our money,

then why, if you use veggie oil instead of derv and declair it,

does the government tax it so much making it just as expencive as derv.

You can use up to 2500ltrs per year without declaring it. I am currently buying it for about 87ppl and using about 10-20 litres a week.

You can get WVO even cheaper.

I thought many years ago, the govt. subsidised the production of diesel fuel, as it was a cleaner fuel etc, and now that there are huge amount of diesel cars on the road, the subsidy has now been removed to make them more money...

These types of thread make laugh.

At the Forecourt Diesel is more expensive, but it still works out cheaper than petrol if you factor in how much further it's getting you.

If you work out that you put 50 litres in your Diesl car and 50 litres in your petrol equivelant at a difference of 10p per litre, then over all you pay £5 more for the same amount of fuel.

But when you consider 50 litres will get a diesel engine twice as far, your effectively paying half as much to go the same distance.

The Government know we are paying less at the pumps because we fill up less often, and they also know our tax is lower due to emmisions being cleaner, so they make up some extra revenue by adding a few pence to it.

Unless diesel suddenly becomes double the price of petrol, then it will always be cheaper in the long run.

These types of thread make laugh.

At the Forecourt Diesel is more expensive, but it still works out cheaper than petrol if you factor in how much further it's getting you.

If you work out that you put 50 litres in your Diesl car and 50 litres in your petrol equivelant at a difference of 10p per litre, then over all you pay £5 more for the same amount of fuel.

But when you consider 50 litres will get a diesel engine twice as far, your effectively paying half as much to go the same distance.

The Government know we are paying less at the pumps because we fill up less often, and they also know our tax is lower due to emmisions being cleaner, so they make up some extra revenue by adding a few pence to it.

Unless diesel suddenly becomes double the price of petrol, then it will always be cheaper in the long run.

You are correctt about diesel still being cheaper (though it's more like 50% higher mpg than petrol rather than double) , but the taxation on unleaded and diesel is exactly the same , so the government aren't to blame.

The price difference is purely down to fuel companies , and it's up to you if you believe their supply and demand explanation.

Yes , there is a bit more demand for diesel than there used to be a year back , but when you take the tax out of the question there's a *vast* difference in price between the two fuels

You can use up to 2500ltrs per year without declaring it. I am currently buying it for about 87ppl and using about 10-20 litres a week.

You can get WVO even cheaper.

So do you run the Roomster on it? If so I assume you use a mix of oil and diesel. I would like to try veg oil with the fabia but just not brave enough.

Sorry to be thick but WVO??

edit: Ooooo Waste veg oil?

Maybe fuel in UK is so expensive because of your buggered exchange rate of pounds? It used to be 22 to 1 in our money, now it's barely 16 to 1. Hell, if it weren't for the right hand drive, I'd rent a trailer and go on a mad shopping tour in UK. Hefty profit in selling them here later

But yeah...your finances are buggered.