A FEW weeks ago, when petrol and diesel prices reached £1.60 a litre, we all through that it was calamitous.
Now fuel has reached a new record of around £2 a litre, which means filling a family car costs more than £100.
This is nothing short of a national disaster.
It is not just car drivers who are being crushed. Millions of hard-working small businesses up and down the country will have to close up shop pretty soon unless something is done.
A shopkeeper in Harlow told me this weekend that his bills for heating and lighting alone are rising by £12,000 a year.
He also transports his goods and the rocketing price of diesel means it is very likely that he will have to work from home instead.
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Sadly, this experience is happening for millions of people across the land.
I am hearing about medical patients who can no longer afford the petrol to attend hospital appointments.
And many small companies are turning down jobs because they will lose money due to the cost of fuel to get there.
People are already finding it hard to heat their homes properly while feeding their families.
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Now they will be stuck at home, unable to afford to go out while businesses will shut down, turning Britain into a huge ghost nation.
OIL BOSSES ARE THE ONLY PEOPLE LAUGHING
The Prime Minister has got to show the public he is on their side.
Of course, there are international problems that could not have been predicted.
But we can comfortably predict that greedy oil firms are plundering profits from the pockets of motorists.
When the international oil price goes up, they push the price up at the pump virtually straight away.
But when the wholesale price falls, they take weeks to feed through any decreases.
A week ago diesel wholesale was 9p CHEAPER than petrol.
Yet at the pumps diesel is 10p MORE than petrol.
In nearly two and a half years, the average price of petrol has increased 84 PER CENT and 80 PER CENT for diesel.
The only people who seem to be laughing are the oil bosses.
In the main, garages are being held to ransom by those greedy fuel suppliers too.
Big corporations decide what forecourt prices we pay, not the individual retailers.
It is not just car drivers who are being crushed. Millions of hard-working small businesses up and down the country will have to close up shop pretty soon unless something is done.
The independent garages have very restrictive fuel supply contracts and are almost all bound by very tight margins.
The Government must tackle the anti-competitive behaviour of the private oil companies.
It is almost as if they have a cartel in operation to keep prices high for the customer.
Next they need to introduce The Sun’s long-established plan for a PumpWatch regulator similar to Ofgem — an idea first devised by FairFuelUK.
PumpWatch would make sure that when international prices fall, it is passed to the motorist as quickly as possible.
It would also ensure that when the Government cuts fuel duty — as it did in March by 5p — all of that saving is passed on to the motorist.
It must make sure there is fair competition and stop motorists being ripped off at motorway service stations which have the highest prices of all.
The Government also needs to build on its fuel duty cuts.
Prices have gone up so astronomically that more needs to be done.
Nearly half of what we put into our tanks goes to the Treasury — that’s among the highest in Europe.
The Chancellor must make another significant cut in fuel duty — between ten and 20p — at least temporarily.
Then he must look at reducing VAT on petrol and diesel, as part of the Brexit dividend pledged by Boris during the EU refrendum campaign.
Campaign group FairFuelUK calculates that because pump prices have gone up in the last 12 months by an average 44p a litre, an EXTRA £3.5billion in VAT has gone to the Treasury.
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This should enable the Government to cut fuel taxes significantly. The PM rightly celebrated when the country came out of lockdown.
But if fuel prices carry on rising, we will have a ghost economy and a new lockdown in all but name.
‘THE COST IS ALMOST AS HIGH AS CHILDCARE’
RICHARD and Leanne Gibson are working parents with two cars who are being crippled by spiralling fuel prices.
Covid testing site manager Richard, 39, and Leanne, 35, who works in motor retail, live in Bromsgrove, Worcs, with their four children aged 12, nine, four and two.
Richard says: “We have to run two cars because our jobs dictate we need transport at different times of the day. We also need the flexibility to drop off and pick up our children from nursery and school every day.
“These ridiculous rises in the price of fuel are crippling our weekly budget. It’s almost as expensive as childcare.
“At the start of the week my wife filled up her SUV at 180.9p and it cost £125.
“Then overnight the price of diesel on the same forecourt went up by 10p to 190.9p.
“How can they do that? It’s just profiteering.
“To fill up both our cars is over £250 but as well as work we need them just to get the kids to school. Also, our older children belong to clubs and we have to drive them to events during the week.
“We really enjoy family trips at the weekend and especially in the summer months. But when we factor in fuel we will struggle to afford them.
“We live near Birmingham and visit family in Coventry but it now costs £20 a trip.
“The Chancellor’s 5p fuel cut in March is now irrelevant. Petrol has gone up by five times that amount now and is likely to rise even further. They are out of touch with real families.
“Why can’t they cut fuel by a relevant amount or temporarily reduce VAT if they really want to help ordinary working families like us?”
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