MPs to halt the rise in petrol prices..?

Ask almost anyone you meet in the street what makes them the maddest and, X Factor snivvelers aside, and especially if they’re a motorist, most of the time they’ll say it’s the cost of fuel. The price of a tank of gas – for a lot of cars – tips over £100, and topping-off the tank these days is a the quickest way to a heart-attacked early grave.

So, many of us punters – although I think we could’ve done better – got together and signed an e-petition to the tune of more than 110,000 people, supported by more than 100 MPs. And these MPs, plus a few more that made it out of the pub after lunch, are currently debating a motion urging (begging!) the government to curb fuel price rises, amid a public outcry over the continual upwards creeping of a litre of go-juice.

Adding fuel to the outrage-fire are government plans to further increase fuel duty by 3p per litre in January 2012, pushing the cost of a brimming-up by an extra £1.50, for the average motor. Perhaps the Westminster-types are thinking this will be the final straw that breaks the camel’s back? And the camel, rather than collapsing, will bite back. And no-one wants to be bitten by a camel. Have you seen their teeth?

And did you know that well over half of the price of a litre of fuel is made up of VAT and excise duty? You probably did. Scandalous, isn’t it? And you’ll very likely have noticed that fuel prices are quick to react in an upwards motion when the price of oil rises, but rarely do we see anything more than a token drop in forecourt prices, even after a steep fall in the price of a barrel of crude. Someone’s getting taken for a ride. And it’s a really expensive ride, that’s not even that fun.

To further rub extra-salty salt in the wound, take a look at this detailed article on the current debate and what goes into the price of a litre, on the BBC News website right now. It makes for pretty depressing reading.

This is something we can all rant about, but until the so-called public servants in Westminster swing the balance of power somewhere even close to us punters, we’ll have to do what we can to make motoring more affordable.

And to that end, we’ve just spent a full week and many miles behind the leather steering wheel of one of Ford’s latest and most economical cars, the new Fiesta Econetic, with a headline-grabbing (quoted) combined economy figure of 78.5mpg. Did it live up to the eco-hype? Read our TotallyMotor Ford Fiesta Econetic test drive review right here, to find out. 


By Daniel Anslow

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