Safe Speed Forums

Independent - here
(sorry moDs don't have short cut on this PC)

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lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on

We know that traffic volume is down over the last 3 yrs by some 5-6% which is very telling indeed and part of the contribution to less KSI figures too. If you travel less far, less often, then you are less exposed to danger.

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Safe Speed for Intelligent Road Safety through proper research, experience & guidance.

In my area ,we have a few stations under one franshise ( two prominent) .Over the last year ,these two had deliveries ,and afterwards the price rose by approx 1p.Next the companion station raised it's prices to match ,followed by the other one or two .Only one exception ,which almost price matched the nearby Tesco.
Slowly but surely prices rose ,to present levels .It did stop rising for a short spell after the Cameroon edict ,but started again .I'm not surprised that MPs are revolting ( we knew hey were ,anyway ) ,but I should imagine with the level of complaints from constituents that they are fearing for their jobs, and nothing wakes up a politician faster than that .

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lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on

Anyone notice how much the differential between petrol and diesel is now ?
here petrol is 134.9 and diesel 140.9 /ltr
A few weeks ago it was only 2p between them

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The world runs on oil, period. No other substance can compete when it comes to energy density, flexibility, ease of handling, ease of transportation. If oil didn’t exist we would have to invent it.”

56 years after it was decided it was needed, the Bedford Bypass is nearing completion. The last single carriageway length of it.We have the most photogenic mayor though, always being photographed doing nothing

Yes, the differential always increases in winter due to the additional demand for diesel for power generation.

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"Show me someone who says that they have never exceeded a speed limit, and I'll show you a liar, or a menace." (Austin Williams - Director, Transport Research Group)

Any views expressed in this post are personal opinions and may not represent the views of Safe Speed

Debate in progress
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-15730087

MPs are debating a motion urging the government to stem fuel price rises amid a public outcry over costs.

Tory MP Robert Halfon's motion was tabled in response to an e-petition signed by more than 110,000 people and is supported by more than 100 MPs.

The government plans to increase fuel duty by 3p a litre in January - meaning an extra £1.50 to fill an average car.

It says prices would be even higher had ministers not scrapped automatic fuel-tax increases imposed by Labour.

Petrol prices have tripled in the past two decades.

Chancellor George Osborne scrapped the annual fuel tax escalator - a mechanism under which duty rose by 1p above inflation every year - and cut fuel duty by 1p in March's Budget.

However, he has only postponed the planned inflation-linked part of the duty rise from April 2011 to January 2012, and from April 2012 to August 2012.


Mr Halfon said high fuel prices were causing "immense difficulties" for small and medium-sized businesses, and that some low-paid workers were paying a tenth of their income just to fill up the car.

In his motion, he urges ministers to consider whether current fuel tax rates are economically competitive; what impact they are having on economic growth and unemployment levels; and to examine the case for a price stabilisation mechanism to even out fluctuations in pump prices.

The Treasury has already said it will introduce a "fair fuel stabiliser" to ensure price rises are capped to inflation when oil prices are high
Labour have welcomed the chance for a debate on the issue, but said there must be "concrete action" to help business and families rather than "warm words".

The party's leadership had backed an amendment by backbench MP Dave Watts urging the government to reverse January's rise in VAT to 20% - which they say would cut 3p off the price of a litre of petrol.

"With our economic recovery choked off well before the recent eurozone crisis, we need action," said shadow Treasury minister Owen Smith.

"A temporary VAT cut now, part of Labour's five-point plan for jobs, would not only help motorists but would help all families and businesses and give our flat-lining economy the boost it desperately needs."

The AA said the latest fuel price rises were already impacting on drivers, and that for the average motorist the planned increase would equate to an additional £38 a year at the pumps.


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Motorist: "Petrol prices are appalling at the moment"
AA president Edmund King told BBC Radio 5Live that the AA's latest survey showed that some 70% of motorists were already cutting back on journeys or other expenditure.

He said price increases were "socially divisive", saying the nation was being divided into "drives" - people who can afford to drive - and "drive nots".

Mr King said for many people on lower incomes motoring was a necessity, particularly if they lived in rural areas and needed their car to get to work.

"They need to drive, they cut back on other things - even things like household expenditure, the weekly shopping."

'Strangling the economy'

Motoring journalist Quentin Willson, who speaks for FairFuel UK, a pressure group behind the e-petition, said he and others "want the whole fuel pricing issue to become open and transparent", adding that high fuel duty is "strangling the economy".

"There are desperate, desperate people who cannot afford to use the roads. The effect on society at the moment has been absolutely desperate. Fuel duty is strangling us," he said.

Meanwhile, Richard Hebditch, of Campaign for Better Transport, said the "big problem" is that Britons are reliant on their cars and dependant on foreign oil supplies, which are "quite risky oil supplies".

He said: "What we need to do is take the money from fuel duty and invest it in giving people real alternatives and modernising our transport systems so we aren't so dependant on foreign and risking oil supplies."

Tuesday's debate, expected to last three hours, was approved by the Backbench Business Committee.
Looks like some MPs are revolting ( but then we all knew that )

_________________
lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on

If fuel duty goes down, something else will go up.
Same with VAT.
I note some are asking for vat to be removed entirely...something that is not within the remit of the government. Once instituted it cannot be removed.
So the next rise is stalled...the chancellor loses 1.5 billion...well...fuel purchases will go down, as they have done over the last 18 months....I reckon a 3p/litre rise will result in at least a few billion loss in tax...
Another thing not noted is that the tax on rebated fuel has risen steadily....quite a few van drivers would be complaining about that, except for the illegality of running on red.

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The world runs on oil, period. No other substance can compete when it comes to energy density, flexibility, ease of handling, ease of transportation. If oil didn’t exist we would have to invent it.”

56 years after it was decided it was needed, the Bedford Bypass is nearing completion. The last single carriageway length of it.We have the most photogenic mayor though, always being photographed doing nothing

Put tax on aviation fuel and do away with duty free shops. Why should I be subsidising other people's expensive foreign holidays?


But the rate can be reduced to zero.

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When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. H.G. Wells
When I see a youth in a motor car I do d.c.brown

I think you'll find that, since a proportion of the vat take goes to the eu, the minimum rate is that which the eu takes.
Since the lowest rate here is 5%.....................................and no, food is not "zero rated", food has no vat levied at all.
Yet.

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The world runs on oil, period. No other substance can compete when it comes to energy density, flexibility, ease of handling, ease of transportation. If oil didn’t exist we would have to invent it.”

56 years after it was decided it was needed, the Bedford Bypass is nearing completion. The last single carriageway length of it.We have the most photogenic mayor though, always being photographed doing nothing

The lowest rate is 0% levied on - for example - books, children's clothing, cycle and motorcycle helmets. A long list which you can check here http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/vat/forms-rates/rates/goods-services.htm

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When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. H.G. Wells
When I see a youth in a motor car I do d.c.brown

I don't need to check them, they're in bookmarks somewhere.
0% is NO vat....but if food were to become rated at 5% then under EU regulations it CAN NOT BE REDUCED BELOW THAT. The lowest chargeable vat rate is 5%. And there can only be three rates of vat. We've used them all: 0%, 5% and 20%
Incidentally, "red" diesel is rated at 5% for domestic use on a craft. At 20% for propulsion. Go figure.

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The world runs on oil, period. No other substance can compete when it comes to energy density, flexibility, ease of handling, ease of transportation. If oil didn’t exist we would have to invent it.”

56 years after it was decided it was needed, the Bedford Bypass is nearing completion. The last single carriageway length of it.We have the most photogenic mayor though, always being photographed doing nothing

No. The lowest chargeable rate is 0%

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When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. H.G. Wells
When I see a youth in a motor car I do d.c.brown

EU says we can't make internal financial decisions - but then ,one of the failings of the EU financial policy is that one size fits all .Another good reason for our shower of spineless muppets to get out of the EU

_________________
lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on

Quite right. My error.
The lowest chargeable rate on goods which must be rated for vat is 0%.
Rates between 0% and 5% are not allowed.
The rates go 0 (zero), 5 (low) and 20 (standard)
Once charged vat cannot be lowered, 5% cannot go down to zero but 20% can go down to 5%
Rates of 0, 5, 12.5 and 15 are not allowed. There can only be three rates, which is why I expect the zero rate to go soon.
Mind that only some food is zero rated....hot food is standard rate (20%) and so is food supplied within catering (as I'm sure you know)
The percentage of VAT extracted for the eu is 0.3% of national VAT revenue, corrected with a weighting factor for different VAT rates, this ‘VAT base’ is limited to 50% of Gross National Income, and a percentage of Gross National Income (0.7538% for 2011)
Leaving the eu will not affect vat, the rates are unlikely to go down permanently because taxing on consumption, and at every stage of same, is a nice little earner.
We will doubtless gain from not contributing, but lose as the import tariffs go onto exports. Have fun, in the brave new world where the Big Four accounting companies rule the planet (instead of just Italy) !!

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The world runs on oil, period. No other substance can compete when it comes to energy density, flexibility, ease of handling, ease of transportation. If oil didn’t exist we would have to invent it.”

56 years after it was decided it was needed, the Bedford Bypass is nearing completion. The last single carriageway length of it.We have the most photogenic mayor though, always being photographed doing nothing

Very recently here & Coventry ,prices have started to drop .

_________________
lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on

And then the tax went up, and hence the vat....so an extra 3p fuel tax plus 20%, rounded-up to the nearest whole penny...

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The world runs on oil, period. No other substance can compete when it comes to energy density, flexibility, ease of handling, ease of transportation. If oil didn’t exist we would have to invent it.”

56 years after it was decided it was needed, the Bedford Bypass is nearing completion. The last single carriageway length of it.We have the most photogenic mayor though, always being photographed doing nothing