23-03-2022, 01:32 AM
"Almost from the moment that the first automobile took to the roads led by a pedestrian waving a red flag, the motorist has been clobbered by the chancellor of the exchequer. The first to seize the opportunity to raise money from the internal combustion engine was David Lloyd George who, in his so-called People’s Budget of 1909, introduced petrol duty setting the rate at 3d a gallon. That brought the price of a gallon to 1s 1½d, equivalent to about £7 – pretty much where it is now."