The Virtual Pub
Come Inside... => Petrol/Diesel/Red Diesel/Aviation Fuel Head Zone => Topic started by: Snoopy on October 14, 2007, 05:56:28 PM
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There has been a bit of debate in the CSMA (Civil Service Motoring Association) Magazine for well over a year now and it still crops up in the letters columns from time to time.
Since we have been discussing, elsewhere, the merits of "own brand" I thought I would bring this to the petrol heads for an opinion or three.
Basically there are those who claim that if they fill up at a Supermarket (Sainsbugs, Tesco etc) they get fewer MPG than if they fill up at a "regular" garage (Filling Station nowadays I suppose) owned by one of the major oil companies. Feelings run high on this one (If feelings among a bunch of mainly retired Civil Servants can run high).
I confess I was intrigued by the debate and tried it out by waiting till almost empty and filling to the top at Sainsbury. Result 457 miles before needed to refill ... this was in my Diesel Zafira. Then I tried the local Shell Garage and to my surprise found that I had judged it so well that I purchased almost exactly the same amount of fuel. Anyway that tankful carried us 490 miles before I saw the red light flashing on the dash. Again I returned to Sainsbugs (where the fuel was about 0.5p a litre cheaper and refilled and again only got just over 450 miles before the red light came on..... which seemed to prove the case that the cheaper fuels at the supermarkets do not have those little additives that the major petrol companies put in their mix (That being the popular theory among the majority of magazine contributors).
Whether the additional 0.5p a litre was balanced by the extra miles gained I couldn't be arsed to work out.
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There are other low-risk strategies. whistle:
Diesel Fuel: Agriculture
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) how many people were charged with using illegal red diesel in (a) England and (b) Lancashire in each of the last 10 years; [124907]
19 Mar 2007 : Column 588W
(2) how many farmers were charged with the illegal use of red diesel for non-agricultural use in (a) England and (b) Lancashire in the each of the last 10 years. [124908]
John Healey: have been asked to reply.
The number of people convicted in relation to hydrocarbon oils fraud in mainland Great Britain is available in the HMRC annual report, and are shown in the following table. The 2006-07 figure will be reported in annual report later this year. The occupation of the people convicted is not reported.
Number of people convicted in Great Britain
2001-02 - 9
2002-03 - 8
2003-04 - 17
2004-05 - 12
2005-06 - 14
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rubschin: They can't all be Kim
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There has been a bit of debate in the CSMA (Civil Service Motoring Association) Magazine for well over a year now and it still crops up in the letters columns from time to time.
Since we have been discussing, elsewhere, the merits of "own brand" I thought I would bring this to the petrol heads for an opinion or three.
Basically there are those who claim that if they fill up at a Supermarket (Sainsbugs, Tesco etc) they get fewer MPG than if they fill up at a "regular" garage (Filling Station nowadays I suppose) owned by one of the major oil companies. Feelings run high on this one (If feelings among a bunch of mainly retired Civil Servants can run high).
I confess I was intrigued by the debate and tried it out by waiting till almost empty and filling to the top at Sainsbury. Result 457 miles before needed to refill ... this was in my Diesel Zafira. Then I tried the local Shell Garage and to my surprise found that I had judged it so well that I purchased almost exactly the same amount of fuel. Anyway that tankful carried us 490 miles before I saw the red light flashing on the dash. Again I returned to Sainsbugs (where the fuel was about 0.5p a litre cheaper and refilled and again only got just over 450 miles before the red light came on..... which seemed to prove the case that the cheaper fuels at the supermarkets do not have those little additives that the major petrol companies put in their mix (That being the popular theory among the majority of magazine contributors).
Whether the additional 0.5p a litre was balanced by the extra miles gained I couldn't be arsed to work out.
rubschin:
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Waiting for a hand to come and grab me around me throat from out of the screen. eeek:
Due to the now weekly increases in fuel costs, are you lot starting to drive like old wimmen to obtain maximum mpg?
£1.16 a liter for diesel is taking the piss now, with many more increases to come apparently.
Someone 'in the know' reckons £1.50 a liter by Christmas, with £2 to be expected next year.....THAT'S nearly TEN bastard pounds a gallon ffs!!! eeek:
£100 minimum to fill your tank up! eeek:
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Remember these happy days?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4133430.stm
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February 2007 Prices across the world according to the AA
Local Currency per litre Euro cent per litre
Country Currency Unleaded Diesel Unleaded Diesel
Austria Euro - - 1.169 1.143
Belgium Euro - - 1.440 1.151
Finland Euro - - 1.406 1.202
Germany Euro - - 1.368 1.257
Greece Euro - - 1.077 1.089
Netherlands Euro - - 1.535 1.223
Italy Euro - - 1.370 1.344
Luxembourg Euro - - 1.154 1.016
Spain Euro - - 1.083 1.039
France Euro - - 1.323 1.176
Ireland Euro - - 1.169 1.175
Portugal Euro - - 1.369 1.174
Slovenia Euro - - 1.022 1.030
Sweden Swedish Krona 12.49 12.64 1.345 1.361
Estonia Kroons 15.20 16.60 0.971 1.061
Latvia Lats 0.687 0.704 0.979 1.004
Lithuania Litas 3.53 3.60 1.022 1.043
Slovakia Koroan 38.94 40.85 1.183 1.241
Switzerland Swiss Franc 1.74 1.89 1.084 1.178
GB Sterling 1.039 1.091 1.388 1.457
USA US Dollars 0.7921 0.87 0.538 0.591
Northern Ireland Pound Sterling 1.05 1.099 1.395 1.46
Norway Norwegian Krone 12.25 11.94 1.548 1.509
Poland Zloty 4.28 3.99 1.173 1.094
Hungary Forint 293.0 297.0 1.195 1.211
Czech Republic Czech Koruna 30.30 30.60 1.137 1.148
Denmark Danish Krone 10.54 9.82 1.414 1.318
But more up to date is this:
April 2008
UK average petrol and diesel prices continue to hit record highs, propelled not only by soaring oil prices but the impact on supply of European refinery maintenance problems. With oil prices touching $115 a barrel, a £5 petrol gallon looks increasingly to be on the cards.
Nationally, unleaded prices have risen by 1.3ppl to 108.1ppl in the past month. Diesel prices have risen by 3.1ppl to 117.4ppl. The price difference between unleaded and diesel has risen from 7.5ppl to 9.3ppl.
London recorded the highest price for unleaded at 108.7ppl followed by Northern Ireland, East Anglia and the South East at 108.5ppl. Yorkshire and Humberside recorded the lowest price for unleaded at 107.2ppl. Wales recorded the highest diesel price at 118.3ppl. The North West and Yorkshire and Humberside still have the cheapest diesel at 116.7ppl.
Supermarket prices for unleaded also rose over the month by 1.4ppl to 106.8ppl. The gap between supermarket prices and the UK average for unleaded has decreased to 1.3ppl.
Overseas prices have risen. The UK has the eleventh highest unleaded price in Europe and the second highest diesel price.
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It can be no more than six months ago that the petrol companies hung on for ages not wanting to break the £1.00 per litre barrier. Once they did, it's gone through the roof. I noticed 120.9p per litre for diesel on the way home tonight eeek:
Number of people convicted in Great Britain
2001-02 - 9
2002-03 - 8
2003-04 - 17
2004-05 - 12
2005-06 - 14
So when I use to see Customs and Excise outside Chelford farmers market testing fuel all day long they weren't even getting one conviction a week. Money well spent
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And to answer Growler's question ... No I do not drive any slower but I do not go out unless I have to.
This is where Tesco/Asda home delivery comes in. It is cheaper to shop on line and pay them £4.50 to deliver than it is to go in the car to do the shopping (an added benefit is that I do not get "caught" out by any impulse shopping).
Apart from the "Birthday Shopping treat" referred to elsewhere I do all my shopping on line. Even allowing for the odd returned item I may have to pay postage on and taking due account of the postage that some companies charge I still save on fuel and parking charges enough to make it more economic than going to the shops. I can't remember the last time I bought a book in a shop and even shopping for Mrs S#2's recent birthday involved only one trip to a centre where I could park for free and get all I needed because most of her birthday gifts came via the internet.
Being a bit agoraphobic helps I suppose as it means I don't really want to go out much anyway so all in all I have reduced my mileage by about 50% over the past couple of years.
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Our local Asda now has pay and display!
Not actually Asda cashing in for a change, but the bloody council.
Even though it's nearer for me, I go to one a couple of miles further in the oopposite direction, purely on principle.
75% of my weekly shop is now 'Smart Price' goods too.
SP oven chips, half the price of branded equivelant, and the Growlers jnr's prefered them....until I told them what they were. lol:
Anyone see 'Tonight' tonight, regarding 'rip off Britain'?
What a shock! We ARE apparently being ripped off. ::)
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France Euro - - 1.323 petrol 1.176 diesel (euros per liter)
So how come the differential in this rancid filthy thieving country of ours, Shite Britain, it's the other way 'round?
P'raps it's quite simply that the frogs wouldn't tolerate it, and start a riot it if it happened over there...bit like here ey? ::)
Anyones tummy need tickling, before the revolution starts....maybe, maybe not? rubschin:
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Yes we most certainly are. When we lived "Down South" we used to go to France every six weeks, with the car, and do all our shopping there. Clothes, shoes, groceries ~ the lot. Only really bulky items like potatoes and similar heavy stuff was bought in the UK. Even with fares (and there were plenty of book in advance deals going in those days 'cos the tunnel and the ferries were fighting for business) A nice day out and tye savings in Kiddies clothes and shoes alone paid for the trips. Food was better and cheaper and I could fill up over there for half the price it was in the UK. Living only a two hour run (leave early Saturday morning) would see us on the 6am ferryu eating brekky, day in Calaise shopping and on the 4pm ferry back again. Allowing for the clock diff twixt us and them these timings made sure we could fit everything in nicely.
The UK has been a rip off for many years.
Diesel is more popular in France and their Government kept their word that if you switched to diesel they would not tax it out of range but would make sure it stayed lower than petrol. It certainly costs less to produce so tax is the only explanation and my maths (admitedly poor) makes that £1.032 per litre petrol and £0.917 per litre for diesel at 78 pence to the euro!
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So that makes it all the more puzzling as to why the gap between petrol and diesel is now at its widest ever in this country, and widening by the week. cussing:
Diesel approx £5.26 a gallon, against petrol @ £4.81
It doesn't however take a rocket scientist to work out what these bastards are up to...... angry037
.....I'd be very suprised if there hasn't been some sort of demanding directive from the treasury or customs to the fuel producers, to heap most of the increases onto diesel, to counter balance the superior fuel consumption of these derv burners. The higher the price, the more fuel tax AND vat they get. They must be raking it in. Banghead
This is also why the supermarkets have hiked the price of veggie oil, because of the increased demand by diesel vehicle owners, trying to 'cheat' the system.
No vat or fuel tax on this product, (yet) so the supermarkets are just in it for a 'quick buck'. Needless to say, my ranting email to Asda HQ on this very topic went unanswered. 45p a liter up to 99p in less than a year.
Bloody heaving mounds of pulsating parasitic vermin. evil:
I have met a few veggie burning owners who have gone to great expense to install pre heaters into their fuel lines to thin it out before it enters the fuel pump. They are not happy...at all. evil:
DIY kits to convert old cooking oil is the only viable option now, but you try getting it! Even the chippies are hiking their prices now. ::)
Even if you can, it's a messy labourious solution, plus you need storage facilities.
Actually you know, my piss is getting so damned hot lately, I could probably run the car on it. ::)
Whichever way you turn, this bunch of thieving parasitic tramps will steal the hard earned money out of your pockets. After all they have a fat greedy ugly dollop of dog diaorehea called Prescott to be kept satisfied with an endless supply of pies. sick2:
Now. This revolution. It's long overdue. sex014
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The BBC's Business Editor Jeff Randall said higher petrol costs would be felt throughout industry, but added that it did not feel like a return to the 1970s.
There was no sense that the world was heading into recession, he said.
Wouldn't bother asking 'Mystic Jeff' for this weeks lottery numbers then. ::)
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Do you remember when petrol reached 50p a gallon and all the news programmes were predicting that nobody would ever drive again?
All these years later, petrol ten times more expensive, roads ten times more crowded and people are still driving.
Why?
Cos public transport is still shite that’s why! cussing:
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Do you remember when petrol reached 50p a gallon and all the news programmes were predicting that nobody would ever drive again?
All these years later, petrol ten times more expensive, roads ten times more crowded and people are still driving.
Why?
Cos public transport is still shite that’s why! cussing:
Halcyon days. cloud9:
Fuel prices that is, NOT public transport. Mind you, even that was slightly more tolerable than todays 'apology'. evil:
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Just filled up... diesel €1.106 per litre! cussing:
Red is just €0.76 per litre Banghead
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Just filled up... diesel €1.106 per litre! cussing:
Red is just €0.76 per litre Banghead
That's about 82/3 ish a liter, in shite money?
No idea what 'red ' is over here, but I wouldn't risk it anyway. They confiscate and destroy your car apparently. eeek: Nice ey, this near Nazi state that we live in. Banghead
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Do you remember when petrol reached 50p a gallon and all the news programmes were predicting that nobody would ever drive again?
All these years later, petrol ten times more expensive, roads ten times more crowded and people are still driving.
Why?
Cos public transport is still shite that’s why! cussing:
Halcyon days. cloud9:
Fuel prices that is, NOT public transport. Mind you, even that was slightly more tolerable than todays 'apology'. evil:
When I was a kid there were three bus stops within 250m of my house… You could get a bus into Heathrow Airport or any of the local towns and two main-line railway stations.
If you caught the red bus (Routemaster) to Staines you could get a ‘Green Line bus’ to just about anywhere else in the country.
What went wrong? rubschin:
Oh yes, they ‘privatised’ it to make it better. Banghead
We lost all the busses and ended up with a privately run clapped-out coach that passed on certain days of the week and only went to one town and railway station.
Much better. noooo:
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Same here. Green (Crosville) or blue (local council run) all with numbers on the front that you could understand, accompanied with an easy timetable and route.
Now, it's just a total utter shambles. I wouldn't have a clue what goes where, or when.
Most of the buses around here are ancient with black smoke (unburnt diesel) belching out of the back.
We have a game taking the Growler's jnr to school now....we HAVE to get in front of the 'stinky bus'.
One of the wonderful Arriva fleet that runs the kids to school.
'A' reg. i.e. 25 years ancient, with an unbelievable amount of fumes belching out of the exhaust.
Get stuck behind it, and you're going to be choking if you don't put the heater onto re-circulation mode. Bloody disgrace. Probably emits more fumes than all the cars put together that are running their little cherubs to school. ::)
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Same here. Green (Crosville) or blue (local council run) all with numbers on the front that you could understand, accompanied with an easy timetable and route.
Now, it's just a total utter shambles. I wouldn't have a clue what goes where, or when.
Most of the buses around here are ancient with black smoke (unburnt diesel) belching out of the back.
We have a game taking the Growler's jnr to school now....we HAVE to get in front of the 'stinky bus'.
One of the wonderful Arriva fleet that runs the kids to school.
'A' reg. i.e. 25 years ancient, with an unbelievable amount of fumes belching out of the exhaust.
Get stuck behind it, and you're going to be choking if you don't put the heater onto re-circulation mode. Bloody disgrace. Probably emits more fumes than all the cars put together that are running their little cherubs to school. ::)
Where did all the money go? rubschin:
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Well here to finally see our cup of overwhelming joy completely spill over:
A planned strike by workers at a giant oil refinery will lead to fuel shortages from next Friday and could cripple supplies for a month, its owners have warned.
Up to 1,200 workers at the Grangemouth site in Scotland will walk out on April 27 and 28 in a row over pensions.
The site's owner, Ineos, said that the industrial action could mean no fuel supplies in Scotland and the North of England for at least a month, although the Unite union has warned that the whole of the UK would be hit.
So the message from government agencies and their associated arse wipes will be..."DON'T PANIC!!!"
I'm going straight down to fill the fleet up before the rest of the population get wind of this.
Panic panic panic, NOW!
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Well here to finally see our cup of overwhelming joy completely spill over:
A planned strike by workers at a giant oil refinery will lead to fuel shortages from next Friday and could cripple supplies for a month, its owners have warned.
Up to 1,200 workers at the Grangemouth site in Scotland will walk out on April 27 and 28 in a row over pensions.
The site's owner, Ineos, said that the industrial action could mean no fuel supplies in Scotland and the North of England for at least a month, although the Unite union has warned that the whole of the UK would be hit.
So the message from government agencies and their associated arse wipes will be..."DON'T PANIC!!!"
I'm going straight down to fill the fleet up before the rest of the population get wind of this.
Panic panic panic, NOW!
Lucky I filled up this morning then... rubschin:
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Scaremongering by both sides of the dispute. The 'Great British Public' will of course run around like headless chickens panic buying and causing the shortage to happen. If everyone just carried on buying petrol as per normal there would be no shortage.
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I heard a comment today on Any Answers or something about petrol prices, having filled up this morning at £1.14 per litre eeek:
Why? the gentleman enquired, do HMG tax fuel on the cost and yet tax beer by the pint? I haven't thought this through in my current frail state but feel it has some merit. Seems to me yet another area where they need to sharpen their pencils evil:
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If they set a tax rate at pence per litre/gallon/pint/thimblefull then it would be a lot cheaper. Setting the tax as a % means that every increase caused by shortage of supply/slacking arabs/speculators using oil as their latest toy brings in additional revenue to HM Government. It is, therefore, in Gordo's interest to keep things as they are in the hope that the motorists will help buy him out of trouble again. As ever what annoys me most about this is not so much the cost of the fuel (which is annoying enough) but the fact that Gordo & Co have so little respect for my intelligence that they think I don't know.
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From the wonderful Mr Clarkson...
"It’s hard to understand why so many people watch Top Gear. Some say it’s the cinematography. Some reckon there’s a chemistry between the three presenters. Most think it’s because there’s nothing else on at that time on a Sunday evening.
I think, however, that its main appeal is this: when something goes wrong for one of us, the others don’t rush over with furrowed brows, concerned tones and a silver post-car-crash blanket. Instead, we point and laugh. “Ha ha ha. Look. James’s head has exploded.” And that makes a refreshing change in a world full of counsellors and sobbing footballers.
Of course, you might imagine that this is all done for the cameras; and that after they’ve all been turned off we put our arms round one another and behave like women. ’Fraid not. In fact, when the cameras are turned off, we’re even worse.
Just last week, the three of us were waiting for a delayed plane in Belgium. Or it could have been Holland. Or Japan. Whatever, we found a copy of what is basically Asian Babes for petrolheads. It’s called Top Marques and is stuffed full of classified ads for cars you can nearly afford.
Naturally, we decided to see what our own cars are fetching in these times of rising fuel prices and eco-mentalism. This turned out to be a rich comedy gold mine because two-year-old, ultra-low-mileage Porsche 911s, just like Richard Hammond’s, are going for 75p.
His little face was destroyed. He sat there working out how many crappy awards ceremonies he’d hosted to buy that car and how it had all been for nothing. He may as well have simply lobbed his money on a bonfire. Christ, it was funny. James May and I laughed that dangerous life-threatening laughter; the sort where your brain starts to run out of oxygen. At one point, I coughed up my own liver.
Eventually, after about two hours, we’d calmed down enough to see how much James’s Boxster might fetch. And this, unbelievably, was even funnier. Not because of the drop, which was mighty, but because most of the enormous depreciation was not as a result of market forces or events beyond James’s control. No. He’d brought the massive hit on himself by being an idiot.
It hurts, I know, to tick all the options boxes when buying a car. But the simple fact of the matter is this: if you don’t, it is going to be worthless when the time comes to sell.
Think about it. A combination of events in the Middle East, sub-prime mortgages in California, Northern Rock and a galactically stupid government has caused all Boxsters to lose half their value in 10 minutes. So the only way you can make a car with wind-down windows and unicycle tyres appeal in the pages of Top Marques is to sell it for even less than the going rate.
And boy did James scrimp. He didn’t even fit satellite navigation and who wants a Porsche with no sat nav? No one. Not unless they deliberately live in a house with an outside bog.
What’s more, James – as we know from his hooped jumpers – likes an unusual colour combination, which is why his steel-wheeled, understudy Porsche, with its gramophone and no guidance system, has a brown roof and a brown interior.
There is simply no call for a car like this. It could only be part-exchanged for some used butter. Plainly, James was very hurt by this. He’d worked hard for his car and now it was worthless. If Richard and I were girls, we’d have put our arms around him and hugged some sympathy into his system. Instead, Richard fell off his chair and my kidneys came out of my nose.
There is a serious message hidden in all of this. When buying an expensive new car, accept, like a man, that it will plummet in value in the manner of a fat man plummeting from the top of a tower block. Accept, too, that unless you spec it up with every conceivable extra there will be nothing to cushion the fall. And most important of all, avoid bonkers colour combinations. You may think that a brown roof makes you look sultry and interesting but in the long term it will make you look more sort of bankrupt."
;D
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lol: lol: lol:
It could only be part-exchanged for some used butter.
happ096
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I always considered that by the time you're earning enough to afford a Porsche or similar you're probably too old to really be seen in one.