gas prices

Jason

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UK is now around £1.35 a litre. About £5.50 per US gallon (which is different to the imperial gallon). In the region of US $ 8.80 a gallon. Substantial increases expected - certainly another 10%. In the UK we could be looking at US $10 a gallon.
 

B_crackoff

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UK is now around £1.35 a litre. About £5.50 per US gallon (which is different to the imperial gallon). In the region of US $ 8.80 a gallon. Substantial increases expected - certainly another 10%. In the UK we could be looking at US $10 a gallon.

Bloody hell Jase - shop around:cool:! £1.31 is the average/litre today, or am I just lucky living relatively near to a cheap pump.

What is a rip off by the oil companies, is that they mark up on crude & exchange rate prices today, rather than at the point pre refining & agreed delivered price, & are slow to pass on drops.

Free UK fuel prices. 11,032 petrol stations covered - PetrolPrices.com

I can't believe that there are still people around who don't give a shit about wasting natural resources and creating pollution.

You don't seriously darn your own socks!

The world revolves around buying things we don't need, with money that we don't have.

Does anyone need to replace an undamaged car, TV, phone, furniture or clothing? NO! Are we abandoning flight & returning to the golden age of sail, canal boats, or even a horse & cart. Don't think so.

Each increase in commerce or population globally increases pollution, as does each penny in financial, medical, or technological aid.

More people using more machines = more power required. Without an astronomical leap in efficiency, & methaneless foodstuff, the items of the equation would need to be reduced.
 
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vince

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I feel sorry for you in the UK...you have a very oppressive government...speed cameras, taxes from every angle, etc.

But I can't tell you how much I like the UK Top Gear. Talk about a proper car program...Far better than the hack job Top Gear we get here...
Brought to you by the BBC. Totally funded by UK taxpayers. Damn governments can't do anything right. What waste of money!
 

arthurdent

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Bloody hell Jase - shop around:cool:! £1.31 is the average/litre today, or am I just lucky living relatively near to a cheap pump.

I just filled up my car this afternoon at my local Shell garage in High Wycombe and it is still £1.28 per litre for Unleaded. Diesel was £1.35
 

B_crackoff

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Brought to you by the BBC. Totally funded by UK taxpayers. Damn governments can't do anything right. What waste of money!

Actually, it's funded via a TV licence, which was only classified as a tax in 2006 - which, which in an age of free on demand online repeats moments after broadcast, isn't legally necessary, unless you want to watch as live.

Top Gear, is the only show on the BBC's 4 channels that completely goes against the corporation's ethos, & continually mocks the PC brigade, in typical, have a go at anyone, including themselves, banter.

The PC brigade & left of centre loathe it, & continually call for it to be pulled. However, it is the highest rated BBC show worldwide, with 350 million viewers, & unlike every other show - makes money - which is the only reason it survives!

Of course, it also shows off the best cars in the world too! The only good thing about the BBC is - no commercials - I don't know how you guys in the States can stand them every 5 minutes. Even on comerical TV here, it's about eery 12-14 minutes.
 

Jason

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Okay it was on the motorway - but whether it's £1.28 or £1.35 a trip to the petrol station hurts.

I'm scheduled an early drive Saturday morning - a regular trip I do about every four weeks. I'm giving very serious thought to using the train, even though that means leaving Friday evening with an overnight in a hotel (the Saturday trains just aren't early enough). Train plus a special offer hotel room comes to more than the petrol, but now not much more. And I won't have to get up before dawn has cracked.
 

B_crackoff

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That must be a really special hotel deal!

Railway ticket prices are astronomical. It's cheaper for me to drive the 55 miles to me ma's for Mother's Day, pull up, realise I forgot her present, drive all the way back, stop & get a big Mac meal, & complete both ways again, than it is to go by train!

Most train drivers are on £60K ($100K), after all their triple pay & overtime deals, with about 40-50 days holiday a year, plus a great pension & sickness scheme, yet somehow, journey times are longer than they were 100 years ago! It's extortionate.
 

Jason

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Well I've got my Laterooms hotel booking (£112 down to £42) and my cross-country off-peak discount-routing rail ticket (£22), total £64. Probably £10 for incidentals. My employer won't agree an overnight stay on expenses as it is not considered essential and I've been asked to charge mileage as per norm - which is £66.

My point is that with the higher petrol prices some alternative travel plans begin to make financial sense. I will be paying a bit more, but only a bit, and I am too tired to want to start Saturday with a very early drive then work. On this occasion train and hotel works.

Crackoff - you are right about UK train drivers' salaries - they are much higher than most (all?) other European countries' and very hard to defend, and railway workers have very good perks also. If we could get the salaries of rail workers in step with average salaries for jobs with comparable skills we would be able both to reduce rail fares and invest in increasing capacity. We've got an amazing railway network which we could do more with.
 

vince

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Istanbul is 720km (446 miles) away from my place. It costs about 190 USD to drive there and takes ten hours. Or I can pay about $40 to fly one way on Turkish Airlines (1 hour and 5 mins) and take a cheap taxi or the train from the airport.
 

B_crackoff

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London to Edinburgh - Mon & Tues Business trip - work Mon,Tues, the travel back - distance - 405 miles* 2 = 810 miles.

Rail:Standard return £202.70 total two way travel time 9 1/2 hours +1 hr travel to station =10.5 hrs
Air: £96 - 2 way travel time LHR - ED 3 hrs+ 2hrs travel to & check in = 5hrs.
Road:mad:30mpg(imp) £155 total two way travel time 14 hours.

London to Bristol - Mon & Tues Business trip - work Mon,Tues, the travel back - distance - 115 miles* 2 = 230 miles.

Rail:Standard return £169, £59 if arriving by after 9.30AM total two way travel time 3 hours +1 hr travel to station = 4 hrs
Air: No direct route - uncompetitive.
Road:mad:30mpg(imp) £44 total two way travel time 4 hours.

Conclusion - any short to middle distance -drive. Any long distance fly. If price is an issue, fly if single, possibly drive if 2, definitely if 3+ unless longer than 1000 miles return, or overseas.

So much for public transport.
 

Jason

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There are some absurd UK rail fares. Some time ago a newspaper ran with the story that a no strings return Penzance to Mallaig was £1,002.

There is also enormous complexity in the rail fares. The expensive bit is generally the 60 miles out of London (because the lines are pretty much full and more trains can't be fitted in). Many rail trips that don't include London are a lot cheaper than the examples above. There are sometimes very cheap fares.

In the UK we have a superb asset in our extensive rail network, but IMO we have so many restrictive practices that we do not maximise it. I fail to comprehend why our railworkers should get salaries around double those in (say) Germany. This both increases fares and reduces flexiblity (because track workers' salaries are so high to start with we minimise the overnight maintenance work meaning that there are day-time works and disruptions Sat and Sun).

In order to get more people using rail we need:
* cheaper fares
* less engineering works disruption (more night-time work)
* earlier/later trains
* more turn up and go trains without the limitations of a booked travel time
* improvements in the rail access to London termini to increase capacity
* better availability of routes which avoid London (to reduce the London bottleneck problem).

All these could be done if we had sane labour costs. But we don't and I don't really know how we get there. Maybe brand new railway companies which employ at the rate the market sets, not at much higher wages. Maybe splitting network rail and encouraging outsourcing of much of the track work. What we don't need is High Speed 2. Lets make what we've got work first.
 

parr

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Gas now, 3.59/gal and rumors of it climbing over the weekend.
 

D_stryhtfg

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Brought to you by the BBC. Totally funded by UK taxpayers. Damn governments can't do anything right. What waste of money!

Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn every once and a while.

What's funny is that Top Gear is the complete opposite of what the UK government stands for. They drive fast, gas guzzling cars, blow things up, speed, actually have a good time, do not believe the garbage about global warming...and it's their highest watched and highest grossing show.

And I paid $3.74 today for 93 octane (I had my truck tuned to use 93). Cost me $60.00 to fill it (only put in 15.7 gallons...it has a 22 gallon tank)

Come to think of it, it would cost me $82.50 to fill my truck and $106.50 to fill my boat. A total of ~$190.

God I hate speculators.
 

D_stryhtfg

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Actually, it's funded via a TV licence, which was only classified as a tax in 2006 - which, which in an age of free on demand online repeats moments after broadcast, isn't legally necessary, unless you want to watch as live.

Top Gear, is the only show on the BBC's 4 channels that completely goes against the corporation's ethos, & continually mocks the PC brigade, in typical, have a go at anyone, including themselves, banter.

The PC brigade & left of centre loathe it, & continually call for it to be pulled. However, it is the highest rated BBC show worldwide, with 350 million viewers, & unlike every other show - makes money - which is the only reason it survives!

Of course, it also shows off the best cars in the world too! The only good thing about the BBC is - no commercials - I don't know how you guys in the States can stand them every 5 minutes. Even on comerical TV here, it's about eery 12-14 minutes.

Brilliant post!!!

On your last point...about commercials...I hate them as well.

We get Top Gear UK (the PROPER version) on BBC America, and it's still an hour show...but there are commercials. SO all the best bits are taken out (like the news, SIARPC, etc). Plus, they would edit them to remove any of the parts that may have been offensive to the sensitive Americans. That is why I get the show about an hour or so after it airs over there. I get the real deal.

The edited shows are unwatchable after watching the full versions.

I just wish they made the show all year. Obviously too much for the presenters, Andy, and the crew...but I cannot tell you how much I enjoy that show. In HD with sound out of a kickin audio system, it's better than sex.
 

alx

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Now paying £6.16 a gallon, Every other day it goes up.