I drove 220 miles today, London-Gloucester-London. With 320 indicated in the tank I decided to use Eco mode and got home with 132 range indicated.
Anyway, en route I saw a lot of garages “no diesel”. I’m guessing people have filled up as quick as possible as the prices shoot up.
Oh that's useful, just as I'm driving to North Wales this weekend
You may not realise this but petrol companies have been pissing in your eyes since Esso managed to get rid of loads of competition in the 90's.
Oh that’s useful, just as I’m driving to North Wales this weekend
Likewise. Grrr.
Things could get a lot worse yet…
The way fuel costs are going and with reading articles like that I'm ordering my season ticket tomorrow.
What's the worst that can happen? I'll end up cycling more for the next year or so which isn't all bad.
Things could get a lot worse yet…
(Lots of 'if' and 'could' in that linked article)
And yet the price of crude has dropped again today after starting to drop on Friday.
My betting is on a gradual drop back to £1.40's by July.
It's very interesting watching prices change...
https://tradingeconomics.com/commodity/crude-oil
We don't trade in wti
If your tracking uk prices you need Platts
Its been 1 pound something since before I started driving.
Oh god I feel old. I remember petrol at 25p a gallon!
Oh god I feel old. I remember petrol at 25p a gallon!
Yup, so do I when first started driving - 5 shillings.... 4 gallons for £1.
You could buy a decent second hand car for a tenner.
And a portion of chips for 6d.
Proper greasy limp chips too, none of your french fries bollocks.
Oh god I feel old. I remember petrol at 25p a gallon!
You must be really old! I remember the fuss when it went up to 70p a gallon (~15p / litre for younger readers.)
A few years later, I also remember the shame and embarrassment of being unable to pay for the 5 gallons (~22 litres) of 4* that the petrol pump attendant had just dispensed into my car as it came to more than the fiver that I had in my pocket.
When I was about 10 we lived it in the drugs and I drove out very old Landover around the fields next to the house.
Dad used to take me to the garage to get £1 worth of 4 star which would fill a can that I still have.
Probably holds about 10 litres!
(Back in the day when green shield stamps were around and you got free glasses with X gallons of petrol!)
You know what happened to Green Shield stamps, right? Via a catalogue, now Argos.
You were lucky....
(Back in the day when green shield stamps were around and you got free glasses with X gallons of petrol!)
Oh god now I feel old, I remember going out in the car with my dad and getting the greenfield stamps to get some “free” glasses or other such quality gear. I’d forgotten greenfield stamps became Argos.
Oh god I feel old. I remember petrol at 25p a gallon!
Flippin' heck TJ and tillydog, how old are you? It was 4s (20p) a gallon in 1900 and rose to 6s (30p) in 1956
Old enough perhaps that my memory is failing? I was sure I remembered 25p a gallon but maybe not!
Edit - I just looked it up - pre oil shock in 73 ish petrol was in the low 30p a gallon average so discounted could have been 25P
Rapidly went up in the early / mid 70s
I am old enough to remember the 60s - just 🙂
I suppose I should add, for the sake of balance 🙂 that the price of a gallon of petrol has traditionally been all over the place. It dropped to 2s (10p) before WW1 and doubled during that war. During WW2 it didn't vary so much due to rationing and 1956 (6s) was the Suez Crisis.
Ironically the Russians drove the price down after WW2 by selling at a loss because they were desperate for proper money, which led to OPEC being formed in 1960 to protect prices for those countries.
A gallon stayed around 5s until the early-70s when there was war in the middle-east and OPEC raised prices to countries supporting Israel. I assume that the Russians were by now selling at a realistic price because I remember my dad muttering about 50p per gallon in the mid-70s and I don't think that it's ever really reduced in price since then
Ignoring conflict, taxes don't help the picture much
I am old enough to remember the 60s – just 🙂
“If you remember the ’60s, you really weren’t there.” Charlie Fleischer 1982
You know what happened to Green Shield stamps, right? Via a catalogue, now Argos.
Well I never knew that!
But now you've said that it's obvious 🤦🏻♂️
Citizen K is IMHO worth watching.
The former richest man in Russia explains how Yeltsin and later Putin held power and how the oligarchs became rich enough to become oligarchs.
Free on Prime
Flippin’ heck TJ and tillydog, how old are you?
Mid 50's. The 70p a gallon thing was about 1975 when I was in school - roughly the same time that Bohemian Rhapsody was on Top Of The Pops (which I also remember).
Be careful with comparisons pre 1970: The price changed because of decimalisation, so what was 80d / gallon @ 240 pennies in a £ became about 33p / gallon @ 100 pennies in a £.[*]
*I also have a dim memory of my 'savings' (a pile of old pennies and ha'pennies) being taken to be converted to 'new money', and what used to be several chunky stacks of coins turned into a few pieces of shrapnel 🙁
There's a bloke who claims to have kept a record of prices in his area since 1983 (he must be a riot at parties) His chart makes for interesting reading
Well, since you ask, the really interesting thing about petrol prices..
what used to be several chunky stacks of coins turned into a few pieces of shrapnel
That sounds remarkably similar to bringing up 3 girls!!
Our company only pays 11p/mile which I thought was below the statutory minimum but hey.
The car is an old diesel Honda CRV. On one hand I feel guilty driving around in a relatively dirty, inefficient SUV, but on the other hand it's free and feels more wasteful binning it rather than keeping it running. Either way at 40mpg or 8.8mplitre, and £1.70(?) a litre now, it costs effectively 19p/mile in fuel.
I was making a loss on pretty much any work related trip anyway but now it will be taking the piss a bit, anyone successfully got their employer to increase the pence per mile? Or is that just a silly question?
Do you get any other car related expenses? Like a car allowance? (clearly no company ccar in your case if you have an old SUV)
Gov's recommended is 45ppm, but only if you get no other help. 11p seems like someone's guess at a fuel only cost.
At her previous job, girlfirend got company car + 12ppm for work related travel.
If you dont get the 45p, you can claim the difference between your 11 and 45 and get it as a tax free expense. which isnt all of it, but it helps.
Our company only pays 11p/mile which I thought was below the statutory minimum but hey.
It's not a statutory minimum. If your company pays you below the 40p then you can claim back the tax on the rest or something like that.
anyone successfully got their employer to increase the pence per mile? Or is that just a silly question?
You've got perfectly decent grounds. You shouldn't be out of pocket on work trips. Our company pays less than the 40p if you get the car allowance, which I do - the expenses is for fuel and the allowance is for the car itself. The amount per mile would vary depending on fuel prices slightly, so I'm assuming it's gone up now.
I was making a loss on pretty much any work related trip anyway but now it will be taking the piss a bit, anyone successfully got their employer to increase the pence per mile? Or is that just a silly question?
You can claim the balance up to the HMRC limit of 40p/mile on a tax return, or something. Don't ask me, I just work there.
I remember being young enough to be made to watch Val Doonican on a Saturday night and him talking about petrol reaching an incredible £1 a gallon. To be fair, that would have been a night when we had electricity and weren't reading by candlelight.
its been 45p for a few years now
Oh and 47.9p/l is the lowest I can specifically remember paying for petrol. In a 1.0 Fiesta that would manage 35mpg. My big fast luxury estate does significantly better than that.
In a 1.0 Fiesta that would manage 35mpg. My big fast luxury estate does significantly better than that.
I'm sure there is a interesting but difficult comparison to be done, on fuel cost per mile compared to income, once the improvement in car economy is taken into account.
Just like on the house price/mortgatge/interest rate thread from a few weeks back, there is an amount that the average person is willing and able to pay and it seems that everything else magically arranges itself to accomodate this.
Thanks folks, yeah I get a car allowance so don't expect the 45p/mile rate.
Old company was 23p/mile WITH car allowance, which seems generous now!
Will look in to tax back. Have just joined the company and the salary/benefits etc. otherwise are good, so don't fancy rocking the boat early on for travel, will maybe just sting them for more train journeys instead and claim it's so I can work on the train (if most work trips weren't to desolate industrial estates with no train station that is... 🙄)
if most work trips weren’t to desolate industrial estates with no train station that is
Folding bike?
Just speaking to some colleagues. Diesel prices (Euro) in Italy is 2.30; Portugal 2.10; Estonia 2.00
So we still got it low
Not when you factor i the exchange rate. €2.30 is £1.94 and €2 is 1.69 so pretty comparable to here.
There’s a bloke who claims to have kept a record of prices in his area since 1983 (he must be a riot at parties) His chart makes for interesting reading
Well, since you ask, the really interesting thing about petrol prices..
That is actually quite interesting - suggests that, adjusted for inflation, petrol is possibly still cheaper than it was around 2011-2013. (That's with an RPI of 8.2% and petrol at £1.70. It would need to get to about £1.80 to equal prices during those years)
Somewhat smug I'm riding 13 miles each way along the canal in an hour, when in the office two days a week. Saving me £7 a day. Following a commuting accident 6 years ago, I was back to driving 5 days a week - costly. Since the pandemic I've decided I'll ride the days in the office, but the 'negotiation' with the boss (MrsF) was it's along the canal.
No traffic and travel time is always within 5 minutes of the hour, depending upon weather.
We do, however, go to Wales most weekends - 150 mile round trip, so I'm driving extra economically.
That’s with an RPI of 8.2%
The RPI includes petrol prices though no? So they aren't independent.
The RPI includes petrol prices though no? So they aren’t independent.
Yeah it is a bit circular! But still interesting as a broad indicator, as it'll apply fairly equally to all years. I think?!
Put 40€ in the van the other day. 2.37€ a litre.
Petrol was 2.50€.
Only filled the van because it's been sitting for over a month with just a dribble in the tank.
. I’d forgotten greenfield stamps became Argos.
Betcha haven't forgot the taste of the greenshield stamps thou 🙂
and around 1.80-2€ here in not so sunny Spain.
Saharan sand storm last night like being in a cheap sci-fi where they tint it orange or on Tatooine, very odd if you've never experienced one.
Seen it for £8.50 a gallon
Diesel is £1.89 litre or £8.58 here in galloway, so £17 round journey for my fortnightly trips to hospital, out of my very limited pip benefits (spms). Nope.....cant afford that with all the other food, electrical etc costs.