Diesel ripoff in UK

[calibrax]

I often hear that the price of diesel in the UK is higher than petrol because of demand and higher refining cost, and I believed it. Now I don't.

The reason is that I just got back from a day trip to France. Now, where I live in the UK (North Kent), diesel is around 140.9p. This lunchtime I filled up in Dunkirk at 134.9c. Which at current exchange rates is 114.7p per litre. A whole 26p cheaper than the UK. And if you're filling up from zero, that's almost £20 a tank less!

At the same filling station, the petrol price for 95RON was 153.9c per litre, nearly 20c more than diesel.

So it seems we're being ripped off once more here in the UK!

Here's my receipt...

[kambites]

France taxes Diesel less than Petrol; the UK taxes them the same.

[myvision]

Diesel is cheaper to refine than petrol.
We are ripped off.

[ModernAndy]

Not much we can do about it though. Best way to counter rising fuel prices is to simply make yourself richer!

[Wulluff]

My petrol Audi (yes that's an Audi) cost £3k less than the diesel equivalent. It's an old argument but sometimes petrol wins

[ajb85]

France should hike up their diesel prices, because simply nobody touches petrol cars over their, not least because their petrol is dearer than our diesel!

[Lemonyfresh]

Simple solution: don't buy a diesel engined car? Or just start a modest revolution?

In all seriousness though, the fuel prices we endure in the UK are disgusting. I'm wondering (even though it is inevitable we will be bummed on this as well...) if the gov't will tax electric cars etc in the same way in the next few years? If so, we all need to start cycling and wearing hemp clothes now to put a strain on thier lovely tax income from fuel duty...

[mad4amanda]

France actually reduced the tax on derv in october and november to make it cheaper

[Robert Elise]

diesel used to be cheaper in uk too. then govt suddenly hiked taxes as the mpg was higher and it was easy revenue. i think the delightful mr Brown may have increased them even further. All of europe has cheaper diesel, spain, portugal and others are even cheaper than france

[Lucas Ayde]

I suspect that Diesel is set to be taxed even more heavily, the propaganda campaign to pave the way already being pushed out in the mass media:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/jan/27/diesel-en...


Gotta love those taxes that are for our own good.

Bottom line is that if diesel is seen as a cheaper alternative than petrol for motoring, the govt will always tend to step up the tax to make more money off of it effectively removing the advantage.

[Laurel Green]

As fuel efficiency improves, revenue will increase to keep pace with what our beloved government need so, best we all purchase big V8 gas-guzzlers then prices will start to come down!

[ModernAndy]

@lemonyfresh - of course they'll tax electric cars to the hilt! They'll cream themselves when hydrogen comes in and they can tax that on a per litre/cubic metre basis at the pumps. Electric plug-in cars will be a bit more difficult to tax in their favourite manner (I.e. through stealth)

[Caulkhead]

calibrax said:

I often hear that the price of diesel in the UK is higher than petrol because of demand and higher refining cost, and I believed it. Now I don't.

The reason is that I just got back from a day trip to France. Now, where I live in the UK (North Kent), diesel is around 140.9p. This lunchtime I filled up in Dunkirk at 134.9c. Which at current exchange rates is 114.7p per litre. A whole 26p cheaper than the UK. And if you're filling up from zero, that's almost £20 a tank less!

At the same filling station, the petrol price for 95RON was 153.9c per litre, nearly 20c more than diesel.

So it seems we're being ripped off once more here in the UK!

Here's my receipt...

Looking at the cost of diesel in France from the perspective of a UK taxpayer is always going to skew the truth. You have to look at the overall level of tax people pay (of which fuel duty is a part) to see who's better off.

[GroundEffect]

Diesel is cheaper than petrol in virtually every country outside the UK.

Never known why.

[kambites]

GroundEffect said:

Diesel is cheaper than petrol in virtually every country outside the UK.

Never known why.

A combination of social engineering (other countries tax it less to encourage people to drive diesels) and market forces (some countries have less diesels and more petrols).

[rijmij99]

Now I always thought that diesel was a by product of petrol refinery in the first place. Rudolph Diesel premiered his engine running on some sort of nut oil IIRC. He was mysteriously found floating in the Channel a few days after meeting with the British Navy to discuss fitting his engines to the fleet. But obviously oil companies are saintly organisations that would have nothing to do with anything like that

[Baryonyx]

Diesel being more expensive than petrol is at least a benefit to enthusiast drivers. Let the reps, fleets and family cars take the tax burden and make petrol cheaper.

[davepoth]

Could have made this thread "Petrol ripoff on continent" and it would have been just as valid.

[otolith]

Diesel is cheaper than petrol in other places because they tax it lower.

Diesel has been taxed at the same rate as petrol in the uk for a very long time - the government has not suddenly hiked it relative to petrol. Google historic fuel duty rates.

[qureshia]

Wholesale price of diesel before duty & vat is about 50p for petrol it is 45p, once duty & vat are added this gap is 10p
Suggestion for the difference in wholesale price is demand , diesel demand is still high where petrol peaked in the 90's and has been in slow decline since.


Duty in the uk is the same on both at 58p.

Source
http://www.ukpia.com/files/pdf/petrol-vs-diesel-pr...