Am I being cynical?

No you are not Molygo i totaly agree with yor post.
There is no shortage of fuel now,yet the prices are not coming down.
More money for the government yet again.

There is a shortage of diesel here our local garage has none. The prices in the shops are creeping up and a lot of cheaper products eg supermarket cola etc are not on the shelves.

Price rises will be attacking the consumer from all angles. To fight back just be very careful what you buy and when you buy it (try not to spend any money between now and January because prices drop in Sales). Easier said than done, I know, but possible if you have the will.

Its the huge disparity of fuel prices that shocks me. Petrol is currently £1.49 a litre in garages near me but, just 10 miles down the road, it's £1.39. How does that work? Same company, same grade of petrol, but 10p a litre difference?

Once prices go up they never come back down again, its the sneaky ones that annoy me. A smaller packet with less in, new improved, when there wasnt anything wrong with the product in the first place. A dozen eggs now down to 10, jaffa cakes now 10 in a packet are smaller, dont get me started on the size of wagon wheels ? the list is endless!

My OH obsesses about the price of fuel; will drive to fill up on cheapest! I do not look at prices but compensate by driving my car carefully and never exceeding 50, unless overtaking.
We are being pushed into buying electric cars.

We are being pushed into electric cars I agree.

timetogo2016

No you are not Molygo i totaly agree with yor post.
There is no shortage of fuel now,yet the prices are not coming down.
More money for the government yet again.

The fuel tax hasn't gone up so surely it's money for the oil companies, not the government.

FarNorth

timetogo2016

No you are not Molygo i totaly agree with yor post.
There is no shortage of fuel now,yet the prices are not coming down.
More money for the government yet again.

The fuel tax hasn't gone up so surely it's money for the oil companies, not the government.

Don't forget the 20% VAT on the fuel though, FarNorth.

That's how the Government is taking more of our money each time the cost goes up at the pump.

I'm another who doesn't like the sneaky shrinkage of goods for the same price. Do they think we don't notice?
Are we going to have to pay more and more for petrol now.

I don't know how accurate this it, but it gives you an idea:

The person quoted is Brian Madderson, chairman of the Petrol Retailers’ Association.

He said: “With pump prices at their highest ever, meaning the Treasury is wallowing in a £1billion unexpected windfall, it was a time for the Government to have cut fuel duty significantly.”

www.autoexpress.co.uk/news/98845/autumn-budget-2021-fuel-duty-frozen

All fuel is supply and demand it goes up and down Supermarkets very often undercut the branded petrol stations, when supply problems are resolved prices will come down, don’t expect that to be before Spring

My local supermarket petrol station has petrol and diesel at the same price. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that in the past.
The obsession seems to get us onto public transport too - Newcastle City Council is planning to scrap free parking after 5pm. So much for their ‘Come Alive After Five’ campaign wanting us to head in, shop, eat and drink.

With the increase in general of oil/petrol prices I am glad I got my heating oil tank filled just before the increases. My c.h. and hot waterbill would have escalated! Petrol prices in my area vary up to 10p a litre!!

They forget about people in rural areas with very little public transport what are we meant to do?

Our local Texaco turned off their price sign (illegal) during the "shortage" and charged £1.69, back to normal now but they must have made a killing

I don’t think it is cynical to say it as you see it, particularly as this is how it looks. I think you have a valid point.

Petrol stations are often franchises are they not? Which would explain why prices differ.

Disabled drivers on low incomes will suffer with the higher prices. Personally I think the fuel retailers are cynically exploiting us. Every year before the Chancellor announces his budget, the price of fuel shoots up and then falls again gradually after it. It puts pressure on the Chancellor to delay higher taxation.

Their excuse is they purchased oil at his height pricewise but what we are buying at the pumps now was purchased at rock bottom prices 6 months ago.Its just greedy oil companies making more profits.

They had to get rid of the millions of litres that didn’t get used threw lockdown some how. So the scare mongering worked.

Anyone remember when diesel was a lot cheaper than petrol, an incentive to get us to go diesel. Now fuel is being used as the tool to go electric. I would buy electric if there was a choice of vehicles I could afford and that were able to deal with snow and ice and tow a caravan for the holidays I have in mainland UK. Very much doubt fuel costs will return to levels before the driver shortage panic. Too much in the government coffers.

Didnt we also find out that fuel actually has a shelf life - who knew? So maybe the plot was two-fold; Use up all the old fuel and increase the prices.
With people driving less and less throughout lockdown, there was loads of fuel nearing the 'sell by' date.

I noticed the car park fees in my town had also crept up....why???