CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Debate!
"if the nation's 34 million motorists are pushed too far they will drive less"
(23 posts)-
Posted 13 years ago #
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Now, that would be a shame, wouldn't it?
Posted 13 years ago # -
"
Neil Greig, policy and research director of the Institute of Advanced Motorists, said: "I can see the price of diesel potentially hitting £7 a gallon next year. It means that people are going to have to start downsizing their cars and learning how to drive more efficiently.""
http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/news/New-Year-fuel-duty-rise.6676764.jp
Posted 13 years ago # -
With diseasel already at £1.30 a litre (well, point one pence less than!) by the time we add the next price hike and the extra VAT it will be so close to £6 a gallon it will make no odds, I'll be frankly astonished if it doesn't top £7 by next hogmanay.
What makes me laugh sometimes is this countries obsession with small engines, "motorists will have to downsize" etc, I convinced swmbo to buy a 2 litre turbodiesel after years of running 1.3 ish petrol hatchbacks, now we have the same economy round town and double the economy on a long run because the motor is hardly trying 90% of the time. Small does not automatically equal efficient! (rant off)
What we should be looking at is connecting gps to new cars ecu's to automatically cut power when the maximum permitted speed for a road is reached! Save money and lives in the one, technologically achievable, go.
Posted 13 years ago # -
New Year fuel duty rise leaves lorry drivers facing 'a £95m hangover'
I may be being thick here, but if the price of fuel goes up for lorryists, why are the costs not passed directly on to whoever they are hauling goods for? It won't put them at a competitive disadvantage, as all lorryists will have to pay the same price increase for fuel. Are they refusing to pass the costs on to their customers or have they locked themselves into contracts that don't allow them to?
The goods that they haul still have to be moved around the country and currently there's not a huge amount of alternative to putting on the back of a lorry and driving it, so one might simplistically assume that it's a hauliers market so they can charge what they need to to break even and perhaps even turn a profit.
Posted 13 years ago # -
A reason I've seen on the news is lorries getting fuel from elsewhere in Europe and hauling stuff in the UK. This encourages hauliers to add extra tanks which might not be up to spec and spill diesel on bends and roundabouts when it sloshes around.
This would have been on the BBC news so it might have been made up.
Posted 13 years ago # -
That would work if you were hauling stuff from countries outside the UK, in which UK hauliers could compete by buying their fuel in the same places as Johnny Foreigner.
It surely can't make commercial sense to drive a lorry full of fuel from Europe to the UK just to haul stuff within the country and then drive the lorry all the way back to refuel. The fuel burnt getting to the UK and back and ferry / chunneltunnel costs would surely cancel out any benefit
Posted 13 years ago # -
Yes, but apparently it was a problem for some UK based hauliers. Perhaps more so in the south of England than here.
My cousin used to do fortnightly runs to Italy and back... never asked if I wanted to go along and I could have fitted a Brompton in the cab.
Posted 13 years ago # -
I've also heard that theory about drivers from the continent coming across with lots of fuel on board. But as kaputnik says it doesn't seem to stack up entirely. Maybe splitshift can shed some light....
Posted 13 years ago # -
Hi all truckin correspondent here, firstly yes foreign wagons have huge panniere tanks, many drivers I know are told only to splash and dash in this country,over the ferry and fill up in europe. ( take a look at Irish vehicles as well ! Huge probs using red, lower taxed fuel ! ) Many older 2004, and older vehicles are now attracting price premiums as they can use old style, paper tachographs, much easier to fiddle, allegedly !Rules relating to trading in Europe, or groupage as was,I am not completely up to date with it, but imagine this scene. (purely imaginary of course !) Hauling from peterhead to bologne with fish,fuel at £6 a gallon here, one run from north to english channel on uk price fuel,over the water and fill up 2 500litre tanks. Job has been priced in uk, our prices expect a certain cost to customer, using euro fuel cuts cost for perhaps two and a half journeys. Also, foreign wagons in this country pay no road tax,are not liable to our VOSA inspection and fixed penalty systems. Check out how many right hand drive vehicles are on foreign plates, whats the point of that ? spends so much time here, using foregn fuel ! Transport offices registered in amsterdam or wherever are numerous and very cheap. One address and someone to answer one telephone and redirect to ......uk. Foreign vehicles in this country can trade in this country and dont need to be en route to and from original country of reg, so they can deliver the olives to sainsbury and then go anywhere carrying anything !Huge amounts of money involved,drivers on euro stuff can earn a fortune but that 3 day journey can turn into a couple of months away from home. Many drivers I know carry credit cards and telephone numbers for airlines, had enough of the job, just fly home and leave the wagon.Euro truckins not for the faint hearted, 44 tonns of best scottish beef used to be worth a large fortune, before mad cow disease. Drivers are regularly drugged or gassed in their cabs and their cargo or the trailer is stolen . Not for me !
Posted 13 years ago # -
smudge said....gps etc.
This is one i have been on about for years, technology already exists,....rds radios tune to local traffic info. we proved the doability of this system 30years ago, at college. inductive loops in the road surface,before satelite availability would do the same.
But no fines for speeding would be available, no extra fuel needed, no faster cars etc.....how could we justify ......?Posted 13 years ago # -
I get the feeling there is more diesel on the roads than there used to be but it's just a feeling.
Posted 13 years ago # -
fuel on the road. modern hgv use a recirculating system , unburnt/uninjectted fuel is returned to the tank, this fuel is warm, after heat from the engine, expands within the tank,and can easilly breach an incorrectly filled and sealed tank seal.almost all tanks come with a system whereby the fuel nozzle will click and stop delivering fuel. We have all just reset and kept filling ! this is over filling and will very likely cause leakage ! Personally blame busses, drivers dont pay for fuel,so dont care ! Besides my only rta was caused by a car sliding on derv from a bus. Car slid into my stationary vehicle, little damage, no one hurt so ok, fuel on both sides of the road,like a bus ,into village, turn round and retrace steps....
Posted 13 years ago # -
Ummm... it's not that modern an idea, my 1971 VW has a return loop for unused fuel.
It has Bosch D Jet. About 10 years ago the regulator jammed which made the 30 psi fuel line pop off and spray fuel round the engine compartment. Nothing went on fire, it just stopped. The AA man couldn't mend it and it took me a month to find the part.
Posted 13 years ago # -
agree its not a new idea, what sort of vw do you drive ?
Posted 13 years ago # -
It's a '71 Type 3 1600TE Fastback but I haven't driven it for a number of years. It's in my mum's garden.
Looks like this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:VW_Typ_3_front_20080227.jpg
but a bit more busted.
Posted 13 years ago # -
cool, my last vw was a water cooler, type25 caravelle bus, saved from certain scrap, was rescued from British Airways tech department in edinburgh airport. It had 204000 miles on the clock when I aquired it ! It took myself and climbing mates around the country with bikes tied to the roof etc, it was great ! apart from the 2 litre auto petrol engine ,ouch 9mpg if driven enthusiastically ! Type 3s good, ive dropped a few, lowered the suspension etc, cal look. well i was young ! Get the spanners out, get it on the road, free road tax ? no one under 30 will know what it is !
Posted 13 years ago # -
The big VW on the front might be a giveaway. It failed the MOT on a few silly things then it sat in the garden till the brakes froze. I didn't mean that to happen but I got busy with weans and so on. The back plate for the brakes is hard to find so I don't want to hit them too hard with a hammer..
Yesterday I noticed that the offside of the back bumper was low... looks like the mounting has rusted through.
When it goes it's lovely.
Posted 13 years ago # -
*Cough* as the person who works for the people that promote Scotch Beef, can I mention that it's still a much favoured export and still worth a bomb :)
Posted 13 years ago # -
@Splitshift, yup that's what my cynical mind reckoned as well about the potential lost revenue (though you'd probably save it in Police and ambulance money). Just thought I'd see if anyone else is as cynical as me lol
Posted 13 years ago # -
oopps ! as a dedicated carnivore, am sorry I cast doubts over our bovine quality, didnt mean to !
Smudge, yep probably even more cynical than most,not convinced about computers either, they will never catch on !
Cant ever imagine vw passats being loved 30 years from now, but you never know !Posted 13 years ago # -
Filling stations out of petrol and diesel as panic buyers stock up before VAT increase
In other news, cost of cycling not set to "soar", "rocket", "spiral" or be affected by any other sensationalist verbs
Posted 13 years ago # -
In other news, cost of cycling not set to "soar", "rocket", "spiral" or be affected by any other sensationalist verbs
Your not trying hard enough
"Annual savings made by cycling instead of driving to soar, rocket or spiral."
You'll never achieve your dream of becoming a spin doctor if you don't try Padawan.
Posted 13 years ago #
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