money News
Garage Forecourt fuel sales over a billion litres down
When out driving lately you like many others may have thought to yourself that you must be the only one with a car, or that where’s all the people? surely they can’t still be watching Wimbledon….. didn’t it finish a week ago?
Well the stark reality now is that being able to purchase fuel for many is classed as a luxury item and not a necessity.
A recent report carried out by the AA has shown that fuel purchases by motorists in the UK are down by a staggering one billion litres. The reports compares the sales between January and March of this year compared to the same months back in 2008 which you may remember was before the pre-crunch crunch.
The details of the drastic litre reduction are made up of 247 million litres of diesel and 835 million litres of petrol for the January to March 2011 period.
The AA report suggests that the comparative dip of 6% fall in diesel and 15.2% dip in petrol sales were caused by record fuel prices, with the reporting period seeing a price increase of 10.51 pence per litre on diesel and 7.94 pence per litre on petrol.
Such a reduction in fuel purchases for the period meant a reduction of tax payable to the Treasury, who were effectively deprived of more that £637 million in tax which would have been payable.
When the reduction is put into trading terms it equates to a total of 13.5 days of fuel sales being totally wiped out during the January to March 2011 period – whilst there is no doubt this would be good for the environment it is not so good (some would say worse) for businesses, families’ rural communities and the Treasury.
AA president Edmund King said: “The full impact of higher VAT, unbridled stock market speculation and a weaker pound on fuel prices and drivers’ ability to afford them have been laid bare.
He went on: “Our study shows the real impact of record pump prices. Petrol and diesel prices continued to set new records up until the second week of May, adding a further 4.3p a litre to the cost of petrol and 3.3p to diesel.
“However, supermarkets have launched a sustained campaign of fuel-related promotions and, combined with a loss of appetite among oil market speculators leading to falling oil prices, the next quarter’s figures will be significant.
“Will drivers’ finances show some resilience or have car-owning family budgets been so badly wounded that recovery needs a far greater stimulus?”