UK Fuel protests next week

The group who organised the infamous fuel protests in 2000, in respose to high fuel prices in the UK are planning to conduct similar protests begining next week. Plans include blocking all refineries until tax on fuel is cut, making fuel more affordable.

Its a contentious issue. I agree with the idea of cutting tax, because the revenue that the government collects from fuel is skyrocketing with rising fuel prices. They could easily afford to drop the fuel tax by a few percent. Here's a table showing fuel tax rates.
I support the right to protest, and sympathise with Lorry drivers, particularly the small self employed operations who spend 40% and above on fuel, but the disruption and damage these protests cause is quite substantial. Consider the dependance of the emergency services upon a reliable source of fuel, as well as the hospitals, public transport etc.

Also, with the inevitability of fuel price rises, as shown by rises since 2000 (how we'd all love to go back to the sept 2000 price of 81p/litre), the whole exercise equates to little more than urinating in the wind in the long run.

The protest might not happen on the scale they hope, but incase it does, it might be worth filling the tank up before people start panic buying.

The Fuel Tax Protest website

I guess ill be filling up my petrol tank and investing in a bike this weekend. Makes me sick to know that there are other methods of generating current thus powering a motor(Nikola Tesla, Ed Leedskalin, etc), that have been around for decades but because of the greed of the government and the subsequent control they can have over the population they continue to worship oil like the ancients would worship Gold. Why why why!I hope these sort of events make the general population more aware of the governments pathetic scare tactics and there ultimate goal for a one world government.

Panic buying in UK

People are now begining to panic buy at petrol stations around the UK. I noticed growing queues yesterday, and today its seems to have kicked off.
There is also talk of government fuel rationing plans being implemented, exacerbating the panic buying amongst anxious motorists.

Hope you've all managed to fill your tanks, because it could get a bit manic at the pumps over the next few days.

Regarding the governments fuel rationing idea: it didn't work last time, becasue many people got their quota of petrol from one station, and simply drove to the next station to get more, making queues much worse.



[edit on 12-9-2005 by Paul]

managed to find one petrol station with some left today. tried 3 before that and all were empty. It's stupid - they tell us not to panic buy, but since I rely on my car for work, I can't live without petrol so need to get as much as possible before they run out!!

Anyway, the protesters have said that they are not going to barracade any refineries this time, there will just be peaceful protests, so the panic buying is unneccesary.

It's not a shortage of fuel, it's the poeple panic buying that are causing the trouble, cos they cant get the tankers to the petrol stations in time for the demand, which in turn makes people panic buy, myself included. A cruel cycle.