Boycott of Fuel Station Shops
April 27, 2008
Further to the suggestions from some of Fuel Fools readers we are urging you to begin to hit the petrol stations back in the pocket.
The fact is, Petrol Stations need your custom to survive. They rely on people like you and me to buy sweets, drinks, food, papers, National Lottery etc etc from them whey you fill up at their pumps. For years weve been paying over inflated prices for these nice to have on a journey items, however now they are constantly putting up the price of fuel almost daily, we need to make a stance.
We all need fuel for our daily lives and need to fill up…theres no getting round that, however we do have a choice of whether we want to buy food, sweets, crisps etc from them. These things make them lots of money!
Fuel Fool are asking the UK motorist for 1 day on the 28th May 2008 to literally boycott Fuel Station shops for anything other than paying their fuel costs. Lets hit them in the pocket and show that we the consumer need to be taken seriously and not be pushed to the edge like we are being at present.
The most important thing here is to spread the word to your family, friends, colleagues…
fire them an e-mail from the site by clicking here. It couldnt be easier.
We are banking on your support to show that we dont have to have a fuel strike to hit back at the corporates who are completely shafting us with fuel prices that are now getting out of control.
Also, use this blog to show your support in this 1 day boycott of petrol station shops. Comment on this below and share your thoughts. It couldnt be easier.
I work in a filling station for about a decade, I was there during the 2000 and 2004 fuel demonstrations, but the idea of just paying for fuel it going to see more filling stations close. The price of fuel in the UK is over priced because of fuel duty, not the filling station managers raking it in. Let me give you the mathematics, as I have seen it since working in a filling station.
Current cost of crude oil is about US$120 a barrel. (42 US gallons or 159 litres or 35 UK gallons) so in English money Crude Oil is about £60 a barrel, each barrel of crude contains once refined the approximately the following fuel types
Fuel Type US Gal UK Gal Litres
Unleaded 19.6 16.3 74.1
Diesel 10.0 8.3 37.8
Jet Fuel 4.0 3.3 15.7
Heavy Fuel Oil 1.7 1.4 6.4
LPG 1.7 1.4 6.4
Other 7.6 6.3 28.7
Source http://www.eia.doe.gov/kids/energyfacts/sources/non-renewable/oil.html
With some additional costs for transport, refining the crude, transport to filling stations, and a small profit we have the approximate real cost of a litre of unleaded is about 65p a litre and diesel is a little more about 5p so 70p a litre. The big profits of the oil companies and announced recently are from that sort price. Now were is the extra 45p for unleaded and 50p for diesel priced at my station was 110.9p unleaded and 119.9p diesel well quite simply is fuel duty and VAT all going to the UK government.
The UK Government is to blame for treating the motorist as a cash cow not the retailer at the filling station. Sure the price of produce in the shop is over priced but something has to pay the staff wages and makes a profit for him or her. The profit from the pump of a litre of fuel for the retailer is about 0.8p, may be a little more or less, this pays the electricity and phone bills the insurance and for the licenses required for them to trade.
Have you noticed how many filling stations have gone out of business recently even though the retailer is making from your point of view “huge” profits? In my home town we have lost 6 in about the last 5 years alone. Your planned day of action will close more I promise you that. It will then make finding fuel even more difficult for everyone.
To be an effective demonstration against the fuel duty there is a better way, however this going to hurt everyone for a short while. We call a general strike that means as many people as possible just goes on strike, meaning we stop buying fuel until the government finally realise that the motorist is no longer going to support the rest of the country, the are better ways to raise money for the government which I can make suggestion but it is not rocket science. Yes it will hurt, but it’s like going to the dentist and having a filling, the short pain of the injection local anaesthetic to stop the pain of the drill. If the French public can change French Government policy by sticking together, we here in the UK can too change policy of the UK government but only by doing the same namely sticking together and all shouting WE HAVE HAD ENOUGH WE ARE NOT PAYING SO MUCH FUEL DUTY.
you need to hit one company at a time in my area BP is 5-8p above other companys so pick a company and everyone stops using this company up and down the country no buying fuel and buy nothing from the shop
ONLY ONE COMPANY AND YOU WILL BRING THEM DOWN
How much money is the government making from us? They tax the crude coming out of the North Sea . They no doubt tax it’s distribution once it is refined and then they tax it twice when it reaches the petrol stations. As the cost of a barrel of crude goes up the revenue on all these taxes also goes up. The Government are laughing all the way to the bank. The only way that we can force the government’s hand is to boycott the petrol stations by car sharing. This was done in the 1970’s as I well remember with astonishingly quick results.
One other thing that worries me is that I drive a diesel car and am becoming increasingly concerned about the widening price differential between Diesel and Petrol. There is no logical explanation for this as diesel is cheaper to produce than petrol.
In Conclusion the government along with the oil companies are “ripping the piss” out of the motorists of this country and at the moment the fools are letting them get away with it.
One sickened motorist
I think we need to take a more coordinated approach to tackling the effects of what Multi National organisations / oil companies are having on our country. We can see the effects that the government are having on the country with their divide and conquer ruling.
I think the people of Uk need to wake up very quickly and start realising that if we are to be successul we need to work collectively and strategicly to ensure that we deliver a unified message to these individuals that we are intelligent, smart individuals who will find solutions to problems without being bullied, intimated and ripped of anylonger. Individuals need to stop buying into all the fear monguring, our diverse communities need to re-unite, towns / city need to organise themselves and formulate new action plans which will be long term and effective towards returning the country back to democracy.
We need to start a fund for the lorry drivers so we can help them while they strike. Once the Lorries stop the whole country grinds to a halt and then the government will listen
Sorry to pick on the lorry drivers but as we all know the vast majority of goods come on the roads and it will not take long for the government to buckle.
I have no idea how many drivers are on the roads or how much it would cost to pay them for a week ( it wont take longer than a week for the government to relent) but if we all contribute then we can make this work.
I am sure there are some fund managers out there who could work out who gets what money wise and when
Any thoughts? Stupid idea?
Cheers lee
I totally agree the fuel tax is completely out of line. Its about time the motorist got a fair deal.
Why not boycott ALL the petrol stations? Then I could use my bike without nearly being run over all the damn time.
British people are such hypocrites. When someone else is in trouble, we’re all, like, “Get a job” and “get on your bike” but when the price of petrol goes up because the stuff’s running out, it’s all special pleading for tax cuts and giveaways. So why don’t you fat sods get on YOUR bikes, you could stand to lose some weight. Also I wouldn’t have to breathe your fumes the whole time. My nephew has asthma because of people like you. Hope you get the message soon.