FUEL STRIKE!

I agree with you, remember the last one when loads of lorry drivers went out on strike, the government were well and truly crapping themselves, I say they'd listen if as well as all Britains professional drivers (including train drivers, bus drivers etc), regular commuters were to go on strike with them, the government would be forced to listen and the strike would be over in a day! I know it can't and won't happen but just think, besides that nothing short of revolution would change the governments' minds on bumping up fuel prices. Do you know that all the while the government blames oil prices for the increase, a huge majority of fuel prices, as well as the increase in fuel prices, is actually tax and goes straight into the government's pockets, so the real increase in the price of oil isn't nearly as bad as they'd have us think from the price of petrol and diesel at the pumps.

The thing that pi$$es me of about fuel price increases is the powers that be troting out the same old line about oil prices going up. scince virtually everthing you buy is manufactured from or using crude oil, why doesn't everything go up, not just the thing that they stand to make more tax out of the more it costs?

It's nice and cheap in Ireland! Costs about £20 to fill the tank on the Astra over there, compare to £40 here. Just a shame that they sting you for everything else. Like £20 quid for a bloody crate of beers!

Now I feel better.
My gas is 36.9p/l ;D

Probably about the same percentage in tax though.

Well... The cheapest unleaded you can get around here is 0.78euro (0.54gbp) per litre...

But remember that the average Greek salary is 750 euro/month... So maybe things are not that bad in the UK

I'm surprised there hasnt been any action yet.

I had a rental transit for the weekend to go collect my motorbike and while filling up noticed the prices and it got me thinking (cos it takes years to fill a tranny lol!)

i swear when the previous strike was (back in '00/'01?) the prices didnt get this high? It was 89.9 for diesel and unleaded at services yesterday!

It's diabolical . The government did hold back a tax hike of 4p / litre which was due to go on fuel in September but I've noticed the price creep up since (dunno whether they've since added it on)
The last fuel strike was supported by 99% of the population regardless of how difficult it made life, and if another one were to occur I think the same opinion would be heard.
My mate gets around all that fuel-tax curse word by running his Rover diesel on cooking oil . If I had a diesel I'd do the same!
I am seriously looking into alcohol fuel (it works for the Brazilians!) but any fuel is cheaper (whether it's petrol, diesel or coca-cola) if the fuel tax is avoided.
Bring on the strikes!

I totally agree with Superden. Lots of grumbling but not much action from the british public. Not a problem for me - I emigrated!!!!

I have been thinking about coming back lately as Bentley in Crewe are recruiting people but the more I read about life in the UK the more depressed I get. When there is a revolution or similar, i'll come back.

Anyway, oil-powered diesel motors are the future, I used to run my old Rover 800 diesel on paraffin + cheapo engine oil, I did 12,000 miles in 6 months no worries then sold the car still going like a train.

Not strictly legal like, but i would have been totally destitute otherwise.

Well, it might take a while for me to organise a revolution (have to dig out my red flag and kalashikov! ) but I'll see what I can do! ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

In the mean time I know more than a few lorry drivers, and every one of them is bloody raging at the way they've been treated in the last few years. The fuel costs are only the tip of the iceberg. Truck-stops, where they aren't shut altogether, are slowly becoming dirtier, more expensive and less secure, (lorries can and do get broke into during the night and valuable loads lost through no fault of the driver who is legally required to be resting at certain times) the public see drivers more as a hindrance and a menace than a valuable public service none of us could do without, (you have to remind ignorant middle class types that the clothes they wear, the car they drive, the materials for the house they live in and the place they work, their money, and a lot of other stuff, was at one time being delivered on the back of a lorry by a driver who is now considered to be merely an envoiromental problem and a traffic jam in waiting, and the driver is seen as a second class citizen because he doesn't wear a smart suit and tie to work or want to climb the corporate ladder and become a bourgousie snobbish rat in a new company car diesel Merc.) The governments propaganda men do nothing to convince the public otherwise since they dislike drivers themselves, and anyway they're too busy lying about why we should get into random 'wars for democracy'. Plus the government blames a driver if anything goes wrong, such as if a refugee breaks into his trailer without his knowledge while he is asleep taking a legally required rest, or if his employer is involved in some kind of illegal operation with contraband goods hidden in the trailer (increasingly common). So you can see that there is a good reason why lorry drivers aren't generally patriotic Blair loving types, can't you? It wouldn't surprise me at all if the country's lorry drivers bring Blair's government to its knees anytime in the near future.


And don't worry, I'm no idle moaner, lately I've done a lot besides talk to in person and send letters to local Government officials about the injustice and capitalist greed around here, I've been involved in a campaign putting up banners, posters, and informing the local population about the ridiculous plans our local government have to close down all the hospital facilities and just about every educational facility in the Inverclyde Area purely as a cost cutting measure to allow more money to be paid to officials, or given to more wealthy areas of Scotland. Bloody disgraceful isn't it? I know I haven't done nearly enough to stop what they're doing, but I'd like to think I've almost done my share of the speaking out.