In message , at
20:57:45 on Mon, 29 Aug 2005, Martin Underwood remarked:
For some reason, the rises in the price of fuel over the past few
months have affected diesel prices more than petrol: going back a few years,
diesel used to be slightly cheaper than petrol, then it drew level and
became 1-2 pence/litre more expensive, but stilll cheaper than leaded or
lead-replacement petrol; now it's consistently the most expensive fuel on
the forecourt, typically 5 pence/litre more than unleaded. Since the fuel
duty (a fixed rate that's not dependent on the raw material cost) hasn't
changed, I'm not sure what's happened.

When oil is refined, it's expensive to change the types of fuel that are
produced (away from some "natural" mix of petrol/diesel etc). I expect
that the demand for diesel has increased enormously, so the price rise
reflects a relative scarcity.
--
Roland Perry

Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at
20:57:45 on Mon, 29 Aug 2005, Martin Underwood
remarked:
For some reason, the rises in the price of fuel over the past few
months have affected diesel prices more than petrol: going back a
few years, diesel used to be slightly cheaper than petrol, then it
drew level and became 1-2 pence/litre more expensive, but stilll
cheaper than leaded or lead-replacement petrol; now it's
consistently the most expensive fuel on the forecourt, typically 5
pence/litre more than unleaded. Since the fuel duty (a fixed rate
that's not dependent on the raw material cost) hasn't changed, I'm
not sure what's happened.

When oil is refined, it's expensive to change the types of fuel that
are produced (away from some "natural" mix of petrol/diesel etc). I
expect
that the demand for diesel has increased enormously, so the price rise
reflects a relative scarcity.

I seem to recall mention of a shift in Treasury policy on fuel taxation so
that they get the same amount of cash per mile from the motorist regardless
of fuel used. Diesel using less fuel per mile gets taxed more.

No I don't have a link to confirm that.

"Martin Underwood" a@b wrote in
:

There are two ring roads around London.

Three. Besides the M25 and North/South Circulars, there's the inner ring
road, which is currently (almost) co-incident with the outer perimiter of
the congestion charge zone. Much like the North Circ used to be (and the
South Circ still is), it's a collection of roads that happen to form a
circumference around "central" London, rather than being a purpose-built
ring-road.

Iain

"Iain" wrote in message
...
"Martin Underwood" a@b wrote in
:

There are two ring roads around London.

Three. Besides the M25 and North/South Circulars, there's the inner ring
road, which is currently (almost) co-incident with the outer perimiter of
the congestion charge zone. Much like the North Circ used to be (and the
South Circ still is), it's a collection of roads that happen to form a
circumference around "central" London, rather than being a purpose-built
ring-road.

True. I don't tend to think of Marylebone Road / Euston Road / City Road as
being a ring road, but looking at a map it is. I suppose you could continut
it into south London as Borough Road, Westminster Bridge, Victoria Road,
Park Lane and Edgware Road to get back to the starting point.

In message , at 16:09:36 on Sun, 28 Aug
2005, David Spiro remarked:
Just saw a news piece last night here in the states on the impact of rising
gas prices over in London. While they touched on many things, the two things
that stuck out for me were the increase in fuel efficient car usage,

Fuel efficiency is an important characteristic when choosing a car, but
this isn't a new thing. Cars are, on average, much smaller and more
efficient than those in the USA. Thinking of some common models, the
Mercedes "E" series is regarded here as a very big car, and a BMW X5 or
Range Rover is about the largest vehicle anyone would ever buy.

Despite the current high price of gas, it has not risen as fast as
inflation.

and the increase in public transport use. Are you folks who use the
system daily there noticing any true increase in passengers, and has
the congestion charge had any real effect on public transport use as
well?

Within the congestion zone itself, perhaps; but not outside it.
--
Roland Perry

"Roland Perry" wrote in message
.uk...
In message , at 16:09:36 on Sun, 28 Aug
2005, David Spiro remarked:
Just saw a news piece last night here in the states on the impact of
rising
gas prices over in London. While they touched on many things, the two
things
that stuck out for me were the increase in fuel efficient car usage,

Fuel efficiency is an important characteristic when choosing a car, but
this isn't a new thing. Cars are, on average, much smaller and more
efficient than those in the USA. Thinking of some common models, the
Mercedes "E" series is regarded here as a very big car, and a BMW X5 or
Range Rover is about the largest vehicle anyone would ever buy.

Despite the current high price of gas, it has not risen as fast as
inflation.

I'm surprised that it's risen at less than the rate of inflation. Since I
started keeping records of my fuel consumption and fuel charges, the price
has risen from about 45 pence to 95 pence between 1993 and 2005. So that's
just over a 100% increase in 12 years or an average of about 9% per year. I
wonder what the average rate of inflation has been over that period? I know
it used to be a lot higher than the 2-3% it is now, but I bet the average
isn't as high as 9%.

Martin Underwood (a@b) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were
saying :

Despite the current high price of gas, it has not risen as fast as
inflation.

I'm surprised that it's risen at less than the rate of inflation.
Since I started keeping records of my fuel consumption and fuel
charges, the price has risen from about 45 pence to 95 pence between
1993 and 2005. So that's just over a 100% increase in 12 years or an
average of about 9% per year. I wonder what the average rate of
inflation has been over that period?

RPI was 137.9 at Jan 1993 and 192.2 at Jul 2005.

According to that, fuel prices have risen *much* faster than inflation.

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/STATBAS...9&More=N&All=Y

Adrian wrote:


RPI was 137.9 at Jan 1993 and 192.2 at Jul 2005.

According to that, fuel prices have risen *much* faster than inflation.

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/STATBAS...9&More=N&All=Y

However, if you take a longer term view, petrol has risen roughly in
line with inflation since 1970 and has almost halved in relation to
average earnings.

According to:

http://www.barrydoe.co.uk/2004.pdf

Petrol has risen 11 fold between 1970 and 2004 and RPI has risen 10
fold. By contrast, average earnings have risen 19 fold.

In message .com, at
01:01:33 on Tue, 30 Aug 2005, Richard Adamfi
remarked:
However, if you take a longer term view, petrol has risen roughly in
line with inflation since 1970 and has almost halved in relation to
average earnings.

To be honest, it was probably the average earnings figure that I was
remembering. So petrol is twice as affordable as it once was, which is
the important thing.
--
Roland Perry