August 2009

Mark Thake

Reduce fuel duty by 40 pence per litre

What I want is a 40 pence/litre ?average? reduction in fuel duty as a way of getting us to drive more economically. That's right; reduce the cost of fuel to encourage us to use less of it.

Cash back Motoring

This is how the ?reduction? in fuel duty would work. The pump price stays the same but 40 pence/litre of the fuel duty is set aside to fund an annual rebate of 5 pence for every mile you travel. This will be paid out on a vehicle by vehicle basis. You go to an MOT test centre and get an official mileage reading each year, which tells the Government how many miles your car has travelled, multiply that by 5 pence and that?s how much you will be refunded; cover 10,000 miles and get a cheque for £500.

This encourages us to drive economically because the price you pay for your fuel is determined by your average mpg.

Take a motorist who bought 1,000 litres of fuel in one year at a total cost of £1,000; the four scenarios below show the effect the distance he travelled had on the price he paid for the fuel (after taking account of his rebate of 5 pence for every mile travelled).

He covered 4,000 miles, averaged 18.2 mpg (4 miles/l), and got back £200, so his net fuel cost was £800. On average he paid 80 pence/litre.

He covered 8,000 miles, averaged 36.4 mpg (8 miles/l), and got back £400, so his net fuel cost was £600. On average he paid 60 pence/litre.

He covered 12,000 miles, averaged 54.6 mpg (12 miles/l), and got back £600, so his net fuel cost was £400. On average he paid 40 pence/litre.

He covered 20,000 miles, averaged 91.0 mpg (20 miles/l), and got back £1,000, so his net fuel cost was £0. On average he paid zero pence/litre; he got his fuel for free!

As your mpg increases the net price you pay per litre decreases, a strong incentive to drive more economically.

For more information go to markthake.org.uk/5-pence-the-scheme/

My Aim

My aim is to get this idea to as wide an audience as possible, the best way to do this would be through the mainstream media, but I?m not connected so I can?t do that directly. Instead what I have done is create a petition on the 10 Downing Street website; my plan is, with your help, to get enough people to sign the petition to push it to the top of the list and hope that that will get the press?s attention.

There are approximately 30 million motorists in the UK, that?s roughly 70% of the electorate and with a General Election in less than 12 months if enough of us want this scheme there is a chance we could get it, so please sign the petition.

The Petition - petitions.number10.gov.uk/FivePencePerMile/

I took the rules on writing e-petitions a little too literally so the wording of the petition may not be that user friendly, my apologies for that.

Currently to get the top position in the list will take more than 70,000 signatures, a tall order but there are 30 million UK license holders and every car owner will be better off under this scheme.

Background

At present Fuel Duty on petrol and diesel stands at 54.19 pence/litre + VAT @ 15%, which comes to 62.3185 pence/litre. The government has been raising fuel duty routinely for the last two decades (the fuel price escalator) with the aim of getting motorists to drive more economically. However, Government stats prove that the average mpg is largely unchanged at 31 mpg for petrol cars and 37 mpg for diesel over that period; so the policy has failed.

As a stealth tax Fuel Duty has been very successful; the Government estimates it will bring in approximately £25.7 billion for the 2008/09 tax year and then there is the VAT to add on top of that, it?s equivalent to taking £1,000 from every UK driving license holder and if you spend £135 per month on fuel that?s exactly what they are taking off of you.
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brum

The OP's idea is a load of old codswollop. The more you drive, the more money they give you! Wow what an incentive to cut back your unnecessary motoring.....not.

Thankfully stupid proposals like this get filed straightaway.....under waste bin.

alfatrike

when i was in my local bargains galore place recently i noticed a pallet of cans of engine oil.
they were caked with what looked like a couple of decades of dust.
the plastic cans said 'NEW Castrol Magnatec', i couldn't find any dates on the tins.

how old is magnatec? is it worth a punt or will all the magneticy bits have gone duff?
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danensis

No, its because the way it was planned to carve up the antarctic was based on the frontage of the nations that faced on to it. With South Georgia and the Malvinas we would get quite a large slice of the cake - and south South American countries would get none.

chedd

hi everyone.i have a problem with my focus,it drives very badly split second loss of power,stalling,very jerky ride,thiugh some days it drives much better.been advises plugs,plug leads and coil pack.all changed but problem getting worse.no fault codes coming up.any ideas please as we are disabled on low income and cannot afford to keep paying out for partd and labour that does not cure the psoblem,have had fords all my life but doubt ill have another.thanks for reading this and any help appreciated. Read more

maz64

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/8208119.stm

'World's fastest kettle' trying to beat current record of 127 - driver talks of having done 140+ already (but not on official run I guess). Looks good. Read more

daveyjp

Depends which pictures you have seen.

The video in the link with just the guy next to the car has the flag the correct way. On TV this morning it showed the whole team posing for a photo and the flag is upside down.

I know a steam engineer I'll ask him why it was so difficult to beat the record.

I've heard the Tornado owners would have liked to try and beat Mallard record, but Network Rail won't give them permission to try.

Mallard didn't have a speedo and they only knew they'd beaten it after the run - which did cause serious damage.

Dynamic Dave

Are scare tactics more effective?

Just seen this link posted on another forum.

It's rather hard hitting (no pun intended) and also quite graphic.

Use your own discretion before clicking on the link - it's not for the faint hearted.

www.liveleak.com/view?i=323_1250531763

(edited to make link clickable) Read more

Armstrong Sid

alongside a girl on the motorway who was weaving slightly and she spent 90% of
the time looking down at her phone while beating out messages.


That's the aspect of it which people who do it don't seem to understand. They spend half of their time looking down at their keypad whilst driving. It's the same as driving along and playing at "close my eyes for 5 seconds...open my eyes for 5 seconds...close my eyes for 5 seconds...etc etc"

clewsy01

hi i had a rotten exhaust so i put a new middle and rear section on. the exhaust is fine but now the engine light is showing. i know i probably should get it code read but does anybody have any ideas before i do. i was thinking that possibly the oxygen sensor may have had a knock or something in the fitting of the new exhaust and may need replacing. just reluctant to pay £80 to get it read after paying £91 for the exhaust.


michael Read more

clewsy01

yeah come on as normal during the ignition process and then goes out with no probs. fingers crossed eh?

Canterbury

This Sportwagon has done approx. 71,000 miles. Periodically over more than a year there is a loud "canary" or "football rattle" type noise from the rear wheels/brakes. This noise is not present whilst the brakes are being applied. My Alfa garage has been unable to solve the problem and has changed the rear brake calipers. Any ideas please? Read more

Pugugly



news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/8203999.stm


How easy is it to accidentally knock off a hanbrake. I've no idea how the handbrake in a Picasso works, but are they that easy to "knock off" ? Read more

Lud

allegedly better trained - with "meedja" studies degrees and everything?


They are not much help to a person who can't read, write or think straight.
theaman

Learner driver here! Any other learners on here? Just wanted to find out what people think of BSM (British School of Motoring) as I?m thinking of joining them for lessons?



I read they?ve just done a deal with Fiat so you get to learn to drive in Fiat 500s! Am a big fan of this car ? would quite like one when I eventually pass and they are also giving discounts on it as well?so seems like a good idea to me?



Did anyone else learn or is anyone else learning with BSM? Would be good to know your thoughts?
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enfield freddy

support your indipendant !

someone who has worked hard to keep HIS buisness running , not working for a franshise , and not giving two hoots , coz the next job is there.

an indipendant guy , goes off word and mouth recomendations , if he,s crap he doesnt get more work.

regarding discounts on new fiat 500s , prob better get a better deal without them and being "locked" by having to take there insurance out etc etc

most (but not all) BSM instructors hav,nt got the bottle or buisness acruments to go alone even when it states on there website "earn upto 35k a year"

blimy after 12 mths i,d be on my own with a new learner car.

Glaikit Wee Scunner {P}

Just had a towbar fitted to my Skoda. Because it is an "invisible" installation with a detachable hitch, the rating plate can not be seen easily. Will this cause me any problems? I've been told that the load capacity is meant to be on display.
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dieselfitter

I guess it is on display, if you stick your head under the bumper with a torch. Same as mine, actually.