Petrol price

[David Stepney]

I can JUST remember when you could get 4 gallons for a quid.

Alas, I can distinctly remember when It was 5 bob a gallon. In fact, the first gallon of petrol I bought was 4/6!

[Duncan Grimmond]

As I mentioned in another thread, petrol used to be more per gallon(6/3) than the minimum wage hourly rate between 5/- --- 6/-). At present it still is, just... so for the last several years it has been cheaper in real terms than it was in 1969.
However I was still shocked on Sunday when a fill of diesel cost me £85.00 ! It was £45.00 in 2008 when I bought the car.

[andrew34ruby]

Certainly the working person's habit has changed since 1922. People then used to live near work, walk or cycle everywhere etc. Now most residential streets are bunged up with parked cars and people drive twenty and thirty miles to work without a care.

Did the Austin seven contribute to all this? Affordable transport for the working man was started by motorbikes and the Austin seven. Was that a good thing?

[Reckless Rat]

Before the Thatcher years, public transport in the socialist republic of South Yorkshire was dirt cheap. Hardly anyone had a car. I think you could go anywhere on a bus in the county for a shilling. As a result, a lot of people used public transport. Then came de-regulation and the prices went sky high, and unprofitable routes were binned. At the same time, along came Derek Cook, (DC Cook Ltd) flogging Datsun 100As to all and sundry for cheap credit. Reliable little cars that had (at the time) lots of extras. He became a multi millionaire. People found their freedom. They realised that public transport was only any use if it was cheap, reliable and went where you wanted to go. Sadly it was and still is (in the main) none of the three. People realised that no longer did they need to live within a bus ride of their work, and the suburbs became the place to be.

Same story here in darkest Macronland. If you can't drive in our area, you're stuffed. There are buses, but only 4 a day to take kids to school and back, and one on market day. The town hall does run a free service for the elderly to take them on local errands, but only on a Friday, and only if you pre-book. Better than nothing, and I don't mind my local taxes being used to pay for it.

[Tony Griffiths]

"tony" i guess what you should show to be impartial.

is the different in percentages, rather than £sp. as many thing like cost of production etc have changed.

so in 1909, what percentage per gallon was tax. and what percentage was fuel?
and simular in 2022.

tony.

Tax in 1909 was 22.2%. Today the 'fuel tax' is 63.54p per litre + 20% VAT  = 76.25p/litre. At £1.65 litre that's total tax of 46.2% i.e. double.

[Dennis Nicholas]

Spare a thought for filling up the Scimitar........20 gallon tank.

Another of todays diseases....always referring to a tank of petrol wen talking costs.......is there now a standard size tank that is fitted to all cars, have I missed something?

Dennis

[Duncan Grimmond]

Interestingly the average car journey is still about 3 miles. I regularly see children delivered to the school opposite our house by mums driving all of 800 yards from the other end of the village.
Considering that the minister of transport who oversaw the Beeching cuts was E Marples who happened to be financially involved with major road building interests it’s hardly surprising that public transport here is one bus per day…

[Tony Griffiths]

Certainly the working person's habit has changed since 1922. People then used to live near work, walk or cycle everywhere etc. Now most residential streets are bunged up with parked cars and people drive twenty and thirty miles to work without a care.

Did the Austin seven contribute to all this? Affordable transport for the working man was started by motorbikes and the Austin seven. Was that a good thing?

A good thing? It certainly was - it offered choice - and freedom to go where you wanted and when you wanted. With the invention of the Rover "Safety Bicycle", cycle sales went through the roof and a huge industry developed - because people wanted freedom and choice. I watched a report recently about a developing nation that featured a small farmer who was delighted to have, at last, been able to afford a bicycle. His next aim? A motorcycle - and after that, no doubt, a pickup. Freedom - and choice. Remember the Wilfrid Pickles' show and his broadcasts from around the UK? Inevitably, they would interview a poor, sad chap who was immensely proud of never having ventured more than five miles from his village. Was that a good thing?

---

Interestingly the average  car journey is still about 3 miles. I regularly see children delivered to the school opposite our house by mums driving all of 800 yards from the other end of the village.
Considering that the minister of transport who oversaw the Beeching cuts was E Marples who happened to be financially involved with major road building interests it’s hardly surprising that public transport here is one bus per day…

Those of us of a 'certain age' will recall both Marple's catchphrase... and the catchphrase response to his ambitions....

[Steve kay]

A historian asks; Is that the Ernest Marples who lost his licence due to drink driving and ended up fleeing to Monte Carlo owing huge sums of tax and being taken to court by one of his property portfolio being in a dangerous condition?

---

Spare a thought for filling up the Scimitar........20 gallon tank.

Another of todays diseases....always referring to a tank of petrol wen talking costs.......is there now a standard size tank that is fitted to all cars, have I missed something?

Dennis


Was it just just anecdotal that the Scim tank was that big because Ray Wiggin wanted to be able to drive across France without buying essence? Never quite sure if he would have approved of the households where a Scimitar shared the drive with a 2CV.

[A G Wood]

Spare a thought for filling up the Scimitar........20 gallon tank.

Another of todays diseases....always referring to a tank of petrol wen talking costs.......is there now a standard size tank that is fitted to all cars, have I missed something?

Dennis

Well in this country most of the fleet is of Japanese/Korean/Chinese origin so the default would be something like 45-50 litres.
I tend to think in Australian origin 6 cylinder sedan tankfuls, because that's what I'm most familiar with, 17 gallons (77 litres)
Old friend of mine has a Jensen Interceptor, that's 90 litres (ouch)
Used to service DAF V8 ambulances, one of the fleet had a 100 litre tank for some reason...
91 RON was around the $3 NZD mark per litre recently but has dropped back to ~ $2.65 NZD (depending on location/brand).
When I was an apprentice I remember it was $5 a gallon (20% of my wage), which was all I put in the car, and when it was gone it was cycle or walkies.