BP and Shell raided for price fixing.

I know Im only 18, but im sure I remember petrol being 60p a litre when I was a kid...

*starts war on cost of petrol when everyone else was a kid, preceding decimalisation*
 
Not sure if my calculations are correct but most of the money in the UK that is spent on petrol ends up in the government coffers.
£1.30 per liter

0.5795 tax
0.26 vat
= 0.8395
£1.30 - 0.8395
= 0.4605 total revenue petrol stations make from every liter.

Minus the running costs and the cost to buy the petrol, how much do you think they make on a liter and who is realy to blame?

When the government manipulates prices by means of a direct tax like that it is responsible for fixing the price of the petrol by removing any leeway the operators have. If they only make 10pence on every liter they don't have enough room to reduce prices and compete with competitors as they will be unprofitable. Whenever there is room the government simply increases its taxes to compensate for any room that they might have.
 
From the linked article - "Four months ago the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) ruled out an investigation into petrol price fixing after finding "very limited evidence" that pump prices rise quickly when the wholesale price goes up but fall more slowly when it drops."

So what makes the European commission think they can find something that our own OFT couldn't, its unfortunate that these big companies know how to hide a needle in a haystack (back to 2002 apparently), whatever the outcome i hope it benefits the consumer at the pump, but i doubt that very much......
 
Course it's fixed. Blinking disgrace but I reality there's nothing you can do as public transport is a ******* rip off too.
 
Bobcat said:
From the linked article - "Four months ago the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) ruled out an investigation into petrol price fixing after finding "very limited evidence" that pump prices rise quickly when the wholesale price goes up but fall more slowly when it drops."

So what makes the European commission think they can find something that our own OFT couldn't, its unfortunate that these big companies know how to hide a needle in a haystack (back to 2002 apparently), whatever the outcome i hope it benefits the consumer at the pump, but i doubt that very much......
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Because the European Commission is doing an investigation whereas our OFT decided not to, despite calls from a parliamentary commission.
 
Freddie1980 said:
Looking at BP's share price has this news has had zero effect on it.
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Probably because the retail arm is such a small part of their business...

The Guardian article is a bit rubbish really, they spent a long time just mentioning oil price fixing at the beginning, when in fact they actually mean petrol fixing... Took until the middle of the article for me to work that out! I was wondering how people can fix oil prices...:o
 
Amp34 said:
Probably because the retail arm is such a small part of their business...

The Guardian article is a bit rubbish really, they spent a long time just mentioning oil price fixing at the beginning, when in fact they actually mean petrol fixing... Took until the middle of the article for me to work that out! I was wondering how people can fix oil prices...:o
Click to expand...

Agreed, it's more about petrol/diesel price fixing than crude oil it seems.
 
Amp34 said:
Probably because the retail arm is such a small part of their business...

The Guardian article is a bit rubbish really, they spent a long time just mentioning oil price fixing at the beginning, when in fact they actually mean petrol fixing... Took until the middle of the article for me to work that out! I was wondering how people can fix oil prices...:o
Click to expand...

lol guardian


I'm waiting for Miliband to make a statement, he was the Energy Secretary for the party 'of the people' afterall.

If this investigation turns out to be valid then this is a good day for the EU in the UK, if it isn't then, nothing's changed with peoples perceptions.
 
Bobcat said:
From the linked article - "Four months ago the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) ruled out an investigation into petrol price fixing after finding "very limited evidence" that pump prices rise quickly when the wholesale price goes up but fall more slowly when it drops."

So what makes the European commission think they can find something that our own OFT couldn't, its unfortunate that these big companies know how to hide a needle in a haystack (back to 2002 apparently), whatever the outcome i hope it benefits the consumer at the pump, but i doubt that very much......
Click to expand...

Or maybe they have the OFT in their packet, where's they don't have the European commission on their payroll.
 
Locky said:
Or maybe they have the OFT in their packet, where's they don't have the European commission on their payroll.
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or the EU has had information passed on from non-UK companies such as Total and Elf, I don't see how that is the fault of the OFT. Hopefully it'll all come out in the wash.
 
What a lot of people don't seem to realise is that it's not just the petrol companies ripping us off, the government are in on the act too. They apply duty to the fuel THEN apply VAT. So you're paying VAT on the duty, Literally taxing a tax!

If the VAT was applied BEFORE the duty then fuel would be around 11.5p/litre CHEAPER.

I hope this EU investigation goes beyond the firms and includes this.
 
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