I have just received this through email from a fellow trading collegue. If you care about being over-charged for petrol than give it a read and act on it. Stand up and make a difference!

Subject: Campaign to Reduce UK Petrol Prices

You might find this of interest
We are going to hit close to 89p a litre by the summer. Want petrol prices to come down? We need to take some intelligent, united action.

Philip Hollsworth offered this good idea:

This makes MUCH MORE SENSE than the "don't buy petrol on a certain day" campaign that was going around last April or May! The oil companies
just laughed at that because they knew we wouldn't continue to hurt
ourselves by refusing to buy petrol. It was more of an inconvenience to us than it was a problem for them. BUT, whoever thought of this idea, has come up with a plan that can really work. Please read it and join in! Now that the oil companies and the OPEC nations have conditioned us to think that the cost of a litre is CHEAP at 77p -80p, we need to take aggressive action to teach them that BUYERS control the marketplace not sellers. With the price of petrol going up more each day, we consumers need to take action.
The only way we are going to see the price of petrol come down is if we hit someone in the pocket by not purchasing their Petrol! And we can do that WITHOUT hurting ourselves.

Here's the idea:

For the rest of this year, DON'T purchase ANY petrol from the two
biggest oil companies (which now are one), ESSO and BP. If they are not selling
any petrol, they will be inclined to reduce their prices. If they reduce
their prices, the other companies will have to follow suit.
But to have an impact, we need to reach literally millions of Esso and
BP petrol buyers. It's really simple to do!! Now, don't whimp out on me at
this point...keep reading and I'll explain how simple it is to reach millions of people!! I am sending this note to a lot of people. If it reaches you, send it to at least ten more (30 x 10 = 300)... and those 300 send
it to at least ten more (300 x 10 = 3,000) ... and so on, by the time the
message reaches the sixth generation of people, we will have reached over
THREE MILLION consumers! If those three million get excited and pass
this on to ten friends each, then 30 million people will have been
contacted!
If it goes one level further, you guessed it... .. THREE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE!!! Again, all You have to do is send this to 10 people. That's all.(and not buy at ESSO/BP) How long would all that take? If each of
us sends this email out to ten more people within one day of receipt, all
300 MILLION people could conceivably be contacted within the next 8days!!!

I'll bet you didn't think you and I had that much potential, did you?!

Acting together we can make a difference. If this makes sense to you, please
pass this message on:

PLEASE HOLD OUT UNTIL THEY LOWER THEIR PRICES TO THE 69p a LITRE RANGE Action:

It's easy to make this happen. Just forward this email, and buy your
petrol at Shell, Tesco, Sainsburys, Morrisons (75p)Jet etc. i.e. boycott BP
and Esso.

TELL ALL YOUR WORK COLLEGUES, ALL FRIENDS AND FAMILY, TOGETHER WE CAN DO THIS AS WE CONTROL THE MARKET NOT THEM AS THEY LEAD US TO BELIEVE!

This email last did the rounds a year or two ago. It is pretty much a straight local translation of a US one. See for instance: http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/petition/gasout.htm. It's based on the misconception that most of the price of petrol is profit for the petrol companies. Unfortunately in the UK (not in the US) most goes on tax (around 70%) and most of the rest goes on the cost of crude, refining, storage, and shipment. The cost of crude would not be affected by such an action since one is not talking about buying less petrol, just where one buys it, and nor are taxation or the other costs. Ergo even if the consumers won and the large companies decided to cut prices, there would not be much room for movement.

I agree with the above comment,what I feel is needed is a bigger hit over many different types of businesses.Whilst if successful approaches would be made by Esso/BP it's all about the tax element.The only way would be to single out 2 companies from say,2 Food retailers 2 Estate Agents,2 of any company that could be hit across all sectors of the economy.This would probably have a greater effect when the large companies on mass make noises.This would also save the problem of the petrol protesters snarling up the roads and causing petrol stations to run dry.We could all go about our business with the efforts of the protesters being concentrated on a different approach.
Or are we just Empty Vessels.

I still think it's better to do something than nothing. If this works and BP/Esso's sales decrease, not only would they have to reduce their prices (which the others would follow) but it also shows the majors that the man/women on the street can make a dent in their armour. After all, it is all of us who buy their product and keep them alive and thriving, don't ever forget how important you are.
Let's be more assertive for a change instead of just 'getting on with it' as the British are well known for. Maybe that is the reason why we pay the most for everything....

I don't disagree but they can't reduce the tax element.

No, that's down to the Goverment and the elections are just around the corner...

The way to keep petrol prices to a sensible level would be for the government to settle on a ceiling price which was acceptable to the country as a whole and reduce the tax to keep it at this level. If the price of oil fell substantially, the tax could be increased again. In other words, there could be a floating tax rate to keep prices stable. I am afraid however that this is too much to hope for from this government which is content to operate a thoroughly immoral tax system of VAT on top of the fuel tax. This of course adds to the cost as the VAT increases as the cost goes up.

IT,

I wholeheartedly agree that this would work IF people follow the advice given, as these MAJOR oil companies must carry some serious clout at goverment level.

Not only would they lose market share, and therefore money on reduced sales, their forecourt shops would also suffer, as it did last time when they were all moaning about how much they were losing.

IF people follow this, there is a good chance of some good coming, but the majority of the UK seems apathetic, which is why we are taken for a ride so much by those in power, IMHO.

Kayak is correct.OPEC have increased output but will it make much/any difference
at the pump ?
rgds aj

Sell your car.Get a bike,get a bus,train Yes I do.Stop moaning etc
In answer to the thread title.
Dont be so profligate
Some of you sound like the new "Red Ken" Hold the goverment to Ransom!?:-)
Iain x SWP

they use cooking oil,where i live.

Saw that on "top gear" dave.You add Parafin or something similar and it works.Just on Diesel though i think?

Find the cheapest fuel in your area

http://www.aapetrolbusters.com

if we go back to the seveties we will find the awful phrase "differentials " ( ok so its not a phrase ).the point is that wages started rising by percetages rather than pound notes. we now have the same problem in all walks of life, NOTABLY, taxation on fuel.

WHY cant the chancellor just say the tax on fuel will be x per gallon? WHY A PERCENTAGE on base cost?

as a cynic no answers are required.

iain,thats right it runs the same as diesel,but more clean.and i have a diesel but i wont try it,you have to mess about with the engine.

i have a mercedes diesel car.

it runs on standard derv, if you feel lucky you can use agricultural fuel and hope you dont get stopped and tested. (less than 2 quid a gallon).

it also runs on vegetable oil, paraffin, kerosene and most other heavy oils. according to the handbook ,petrol can be used in an emergency.

btw it is perfectly legal to use cooking oil as long as you pay gordon the duty due.

the sad thing is that vegetable oil is a renewable source of energy and worse, the EU is still paying farmers to grow crops to churn back into the ground. the resources are already available to stuff the oil giants, but the polutical will is not.

asda sells a "smart price" cooking oil. there is NEVER any available in my local Swanley store. i wonder why?

On Top gear you had to add something to the Cooking oil.Was it parrafin?

mite be i dont no,some people i no use red diesel from there boat yard 29.9 pence a litre,,not bad hay iain.

superrod i was tempted to get a 10 gallon drum of cooking oil from booker ,cash/carry,part of the big food group,as they give you a card every 6 months to use .the price was under 10,no vat.
i mite try it.

daves dazzlers


DONT forget to pay gordon......a diesel burning cooking oil is VERY detectable