CASH-strapped drivers piled mounting pressure on the Chancellor to end their
petrol price misery last night — and warned: We’re tired of being taken for
fools.
Countless ordinary motorists joined desperately worried trucking chiefs and
small-business bosses in backing The Sun’s Keep It Down campaign.
By last night 36,324 readers had signed our online petition urging George
Osborne to Do His Duty.
The Chancellor plans to sting drivers in April for an extra 1p a litre duty
plus inflation — a 2.95p rise.
That will push the price of unleaded to more than £1.40 a litre — or £6.36
A GALLON.
Please sign our Keep It Down petition by clicking on the link above.
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The RAC backed The Sun campaign last night — pointing out that FIVE
duty and VAT hikes in the past year alone had bumped up motorists’ bills by
£100.
April’s rise will be the NINTH since December 2008.
Law student Katie Stoker, 20, summed up the soaring anger of motorists last
night when she said: “It’s absolutely ridiculous.”
Katie, of Sunderland, added: “I think it’s crazy the amount it’s going up.”
Nursery nurse Saida Dandeh-Njie, 29, of Cambridge, said: “It is costing me a
lot of money but I can’t live without my car.
“If everyone gets behind The Sun’s campaign we might be able to get prices
down.”
Waste control manager Andy Jackson said: “I drive 20 miles every day for work.
I have a Mondeo — hardly a gas guzzler — but it costs over £80 to fill up.
Just a few months ago it was £60.”
Andy, 36, of Wetherby, North Yorks, added: “The Government has us over a
barrel. When is it going to stop? Two pounds a litre? Three pounds?”
Student Zen Abideen, 24, from Newcastle upon Tyne, said: “I used to get good
mileage out of my car but I’m thinking of going back to the bus.”
Bosses are even more worried — and urge readers to sign our petition calling
for a duty freeze or a fuel stabiliser.
Rocketing diesel prices have helped push the price of goods leaving
manufacturers to the highest level since last April.
Official figures yesterday showed this “factory gate inflation” had leapt to
4.2 per cent.
Charlie Mullins, head of the UK’s biggest independent plumbing firm Pimlico,
said the fuel bill for his 135 vans has rocketed by £150,000 in nine months.
The London-based boss said: “It’s near impossible to run a business this way.”
Christian Rose, chief of gin and vodka firm G&J Greenall said: “A fuel tax
increase will affect the nation on every level.”