Highway robbery
Saturday 19th November 2011, 2:30PM GMT.
Already-struggling garages have reacted to new duty rise on fuel.
HIKING fuel duty by 4p a litre has been described as ‘nothing short of daylight robbery’ by one garage owner.
Le Mont Saint Garage managing director Dave Beausire said the sector was facing difficult times and that the tax rise would put more pressure on struggling businesses. His views were backed by another garage owner yesterday, as islanders got to grips with the details of the 2012 Budget.
‘Margins have been squeezed over the past few years and that has led to some fuel sites closing and sites will have to restructure, which will lead to attendant service and the old fashioned petrol account going, or in the worst cases further closures and job losses in the industry,’ Mr Beausire said.
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Completely agree.
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Get on your pushbikes or stretch those legs,like the good old days.
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pbfalla – those would be the good old days when you married your cousin(s) and sired offspring with flippers then?
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Gilthead – from reading some of the more delusional comments written on this forum it would appear that this is still going on………
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Actually I would tend to agree with pbf (for a change!). I know some journeys do have to be made by car, but a lot of them can also by done by bike or on foot.
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Not sure why its such a big issue.
Why can’t the garages maintain their profit margins by simply passing the increase on to their customers, exactly as they do when the retail price of fuel goes up?
We all know that we are wedded to our cars, so is anybody going give up a car as a result? No – of course not. But if they did, then there’s a green benefit to Guernsey and potentially an extra customer for the taxis and bus systems. Isn’t that a win-win situation?
Look at the price of petrol in the UK – we should be counting our blessings.
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It’s 20p more expensive in the UK now, it’ll be the same price this time next year. Why are we paying so much duty on our fuel, when it was the road tax system it was very little in comparison.
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GM-I think they might just do that.The only problem is that it has been advertised Island wide as only a 4p rise and not the 5p or 6p rise they might have had in mind. In the UK prices are higher and true many petrol stations have closed. However this has more to do with the fact that every now and again the tanks below the forecourt have to be cleaned/replaced and the owner perfer to do a runner with thier cash than continue with the venture. Rather than the price of fuel. these sites are mostly then abandoned. Leaving any prospective buyer with the addional cost of the removal/diposal of the tanks, to what ever development they want to put on the land.
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You mean the taxi drivers and bus company that won’t be able to afford the fuel, so have to put their prices up to cover the costs which in turn means people stop using them anyway?
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So is this an admission that Garages have been overcharging in the past if “margins have been squeezed”??
Its simple, duty goes up 4p, petrol price at the pump goes up 4p. If price at the pump only goes up 3p, then thats 1p per litre we have been overcharged in the past.
However if he made the argument that he might not sell as many Impreza WRX’s as he used to, then that would make more sense.
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How else would Dave Beausire suggest raising the necessary tax then – maybe a tax on importing Italian cars?? At least this way it is the user that pays
Surely fuel retailers just have to accept the increase, add a sensible margin, provide (or continue to provide in Dave’s case) a good customer service, and hope to retain a reasonable market share
A question if I may – when the 4p per litre duty and price rise went on overnight last week, did all the fuel retailers make an instant profit on what fuel they already had in store?
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GM …..Are you sure you’re not Guernsey’s chef Minister??
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Or Home Minister?
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It quite clearly isn’t “nothing short of daylight robbery”, as any victim of robbery would be able to tell you.
I do wish people would tone down the hyperbole.
It is a (fairly modest) tax increase. You might disagree with it – in which case I’d be very interested to hear your alternative proposals for raising enough revenue to keep Guernsey in the black and possibly dealing with car pollution and congestion.
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James: Totally agree.
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me too!
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GM,
The price of petrol/diesel in the UK will only be 10-15p per litre more than ours once this latest increase takes effect, given that you can get a far better miles-per-gallon on decent roads with much less of our stop/start gearchange driving that we have over here I think we are now going to probably end up paying more pence per mile than UK drivers!
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Think yourselves lucky your not paying £1.36 a litre for unleaded plus road tax plus MOT.
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The increased economy that comes from driving at proper speeds in the UK more than makes up for the difference in fuel prices.
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I’m absolutely certain that I’m not the Chief Minister, but I do think that he (and the House) have been a decent fist of an almost impossible situation.
About 3 years ago there were lots of questions being asked about fuel margins, as the retailers were saying that it wasn’t them pocketing the huge profit margin, and the comparison with the tax rates of the UK on fuel, once stripped out, meant that the cost to the retailer here was far higher than it should have been. It seems that nobody was prepared to take on the wholesalers though to stop the exploitation. So easy for them to hide behind saying that its the cost of getting the fuel here….
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I read last week that our ( CM’s) fuel boats have turned in a healthy trading profit in the last twelve months
Perhaps we are being ripped off even before the fuel gets pumped ashore?
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Most of the garages in Guernsey overcharge anyway. I’ve been to two garages over the weekend, one charging 1.04 per litre and one was 1.16 per litre (for unleaded). It would be great to have a website which shows the up to date prices of each individual garage.
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The only highway robbers I’ve encountered here (apart from the motor trades’ cartel) are the local taxi drivers. No doubt they’ll use this as an excuse to hike their fares to extortionate new levels. Time to open it up to minicabs perhaps.
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I don’t think they set the fare rates, I think it is the environment department that does.
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Les Beaucamps Boy
No, not the Home Minister either (despite the initials!).
I can assure you that I have never been a States member (or even a Douzenier or Constable).
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Think Busy
Think Bee
You know it makes sense
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Blame the States for getting rid of road tax, thats the reason the price of fuel has risen so much on the island in recent years.
But even it it went up 14 p a litre I bet there’d still be the congestion around the schools every day.
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GM
Well you certainly post like a politician!
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Tim
I won’t take that as a compliment !
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I don’t see what the issue is here. 75% of Guernsey drivers could slash their fuel costs by driving a car suitable for the island. That is assuming they wanted to of course. Further savings could be made by all walking or cycling where possible.
I accept the point that price per mile is probably higher than the UK but overall you use far less. I get 52-55 to the gallon from my diesel but I have to drive 65 miles a day to work and that costs me £30 odd per week before I have earned anything.
Whichever way you look at it you’ve got it good over there.
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I agree, those who can afford to run a car will find a way to pay for the increase, which as so many of you have said is not really that bad compared with the UK.
We have it easy really so stop complaining everyone.
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Petrol is only ever going to increase in value it is a non-sustainable resource that will run out. Towards the end only the rich will be able to afford it. Perhaps its time as a society we started to seriously think how we could change our lifestyles and environment to cope without the car so that we are more adaptable in the future.
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At last! Someone hits the nail on the head. Well said Dani.
Lets start by changing the school run culture so that our children will start to adapt.
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We’re all going to Hades in a non-petrol driven handcart.
Dani, absolutely agree.
I also think that many individuals will be priced out of making non-essential car journeys sooner rather than later.
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Dani
Long before it runs out,at about the time it becomes unaffordable for the millions (billions?) of private and commercial vehicle owners,the airlines,shipping companies etc, someone will step forward with their latest invention to successfully replace the oil dependant internal combustion engine
That’s the way the world works.If it didn’t work that way we would still be living in caves
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The 2 things that make oil such a useful fuel are firstly its portability, and secondly its incredible density of calories per litre. Added to that, it has historically been incredibly cheap….. ludicrously cheap, and that has sucked us into a level of dependency that is going to be incredibly hard to change.
Consequently, every aspect of our lives is now dependent on oil, from the food we eat, to the clothes we wear, to the purchases we make, to the cars we drive. It is not a good place to be now that we know oil production will not keep pace with our consumption of it, and also knowing the damage its use has.
A couple of years ago, a report that came out of the USA Dept of Energy concluded that in order to avoid a global economic crash, caused by insufficient oil to meet demand, there would need to be a worldwide mitigation program at LEAST 20 years before ‘Peak Oil’ was reached. The time of Peak Oil is debatable, some saying it’s already here and others saying it will happen in the next 10 years or so. Most are in agreement tho’ that no-one will know when we reach Peak Oil until well after it has happened….. i.e. long after we can do anything about it.
So the point of my long ramble ( I know how you hate them Ray!) is that it will be too late if we sit back and wait for prices to go up for something else to magically pop out of the woodwork. It is not just the cost of the fuel that we put into our engines that is going to go up…. everything will, including food, and all our other purchases.
So as Dani says above. We would be far more sensible to act proactively now, to organise our community so that we were not so dependent on gizmos that require lots of energy, because as she points out, it will only be the rich that will be able to afford it.
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Rosie
Please just Google ‘Alternative fuel’
In a couple of nano-seconds you will be given a choice of thousands of pages whereby you can see for yourself that alternatives to black gold are being worked on as we speak
I find it very strange that otherwise intelligent people believe that the world will revert back to medieval times because one fuel type ( OK The current major fuel type) will eventually run out
Got to go now before my attention span starts flagging
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Ray- I know there are and there are some fantastic things being done- but they will not be able to merrily switch over to replace everything that oil does for us just like that. All our systems are set up to use oil from the fertilisers & pesticides we use to keep food cheap, to the plastics that keep the cost of products down, to the fuel we run our vehicles on, including the huge machines used in mining, industrial farming, trans-boundary shipping/flying etc. etc
Point me to the alternative fuels that can do all those jobs and are as cheap, as portable, as flexible, as energy dense and as readily available as oil has been. And are they available throughout the market place ready to take over all the different roles. If this miracle technology that is comparable to oil is already there, why is so much being invested in things like wind turbines or the Alberta Tar Sands?
Our energy requirements are still growing so the introduction of alternatives so far has just about kept up with the increase in energy demand without making hardly a dent in the amount of oil we are using.
So unless we start the transition to reduced energy needs and alternative fuels before the energy crunch hits, many people will no doubt revert to little better than medieval living as you suggest because they will be priced out of the market. So much better in my mind if, as a community, we planned for a controlled transition to a society that could manage with less dependency on oil.
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Rosie
I’m with you on this.
Ray
Obviously,I hope you’re right. I love lessons from history.
However, I’m not sure that just because new technologies have arrived in a timely manner in previous ages, that a solution is guaranteed to be found for this problem.
Finding a energy solution for 7bn people and rising is the ultimate biggy.
I say we start to be frugal with fossil fuels now to give more time to find a solution
On this matter, not a question of being clever vs being silly,i think its more a matter of addressing a real issue now versus inertia.
Presently, there will be a lot of the latter when the oil runs out.
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Spartacus & Hobbesvlocke
Thank you
Ray
I’m really happy to see you be so optimistic about an issue.
I think we differ in our opinions as to how soon petrol prices will cause difficulty for members of society. I feel there are some that are already finding the increases a concern and that this number will rise with price increases as opposed your thought that the issue will be more prominent in the more distant future. Both our opinions are debatable.
The issue is however emerging now and I think it best we be proactive to minimize the effect it has on Guernsey rather than trust in someone offering a solution at the last minute. To not do so would be poor risk management. We must be forward thinking in areas we have control over.
In regards to why we no longer live in caves I would contribute our inventiveness as a factor as you suggest. During our rise out of the caves to modern day we relied on non-renewable resources to fuel an increase in our standard of living. However during this period sustainability was not a key issue as it now.
I am aware that there is considerable investment in replacement technologies and growth in current thought in making sustainability practical. I suggest we keep a close eye on these areas and adopt those which are beneficial to Guernsey to ensure both a continued and smoother ascension from the caves.
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At this point in “debates” I like to wade in with the pedantic point that oil and coal are renewable resources, wheras solar and tidal energy aren’t ……..
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