UK Government Petition to lower fuel prices

[Chris Strellis]

> While waiting for our new house to be built, I'm regularly driving
> from London to Worcester every weekend, to see my girlfriend. It's a
> round trip of 320 miles, and the petrol cost is about £35. If I'm
> prepared to travel at a different time of day, and change trains 5
> times on the way there, and 4 times on the way back, with no guarantee
> of a seat, I can get the price down to £86.

Just because your two comparisons are in the same units doesn't automatically mean that you can *directly* compare them.

For the train - you don't pay for yearly insurance (£300 a year at least), MOT (£50), Servicing (£200), Road Tax (£185), cost of car (£200 a month for most people) or a large wedge of cash up front.

Remember it should be public transport always, or car always, not both.  It will always be more expensive if you use both!

I run old cars.  I have a 10 year old car that cost me £1000.  It's a 2 litre petrol.  Yes it costs me £70 to fill up.  However, I did the sums.  The equivalent cheapy diesel car for me would be £2000.  It would take me 4 years for the cost differences to level out due to more economy on the (more expensive fuel too) diesel.  Take it from me, I won't have the same car in four years time (I probably would have crashed it - like I did my last one - a VW Golf Diesel).

I don't understand the people who spring £20k on a new car just to get an economical diesel - to *save* money! It's more financially economical to get a £5k 3 litre V6 that does 25mpg over the remainder of its life than a frugal brand new 70mpg car.

It certainly doesn't save the planet - the energy required to make a new car is phenomenal - let alone the pillaging of resources.

Fuel is still cheap really when all things are considered. However, it's the day to day costs that people are moaning about and the sharp recent rises.

Run an old banger - it *is* better for the environment when you see the big picture.  So few people do though. Perhaps we should all take a trip to Cuba to see how they keep 50 year old cars still on the road :)

Rant over.

Cheers

Chris