Lots in the news at the moment about fuel prices, because of the duty and the VAT both going up this week. There's no doubt it's going to impact on everyone, from the private motorist to the hauliers who transport goods around the UK. Personally, it means my ancient 4.0-litre Jeep Wrangler that lives in the garage on a trickle charger is going to get even less use this year than last because I it just drinks fuel. It will probably get sold because of that. Anyway, that's not the point. Spare a moment for the smaller petrol retailers who don't have a choice about what they charge for their fuel. It's alright for the supermarket forecourts, which can have lower pump prices because of the volume of traffic going through, or offer store-linked incentives. But the independent operators are going to the wall because they simply can't compete. My local filling station is in a village about three miles away. I called in about a month ago and they had no fuel because they were in the middle of swapping supplier. Fine, so the pumps were off for a couple of weeks. I called in again yesterday and was told it was all over. They've taken a decision to be a village shop with a jet-wash and a large area for parking. They can't make enough profit out of fuel to justify the expense. I'm told this is happening at the rate of about two a week. It means people like me who live in rural communities have limited choice about where we buy our fuel. We also have to drive further to get it. I know it's market forces which can't be interfered with but that doesn't make it right.
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