Petrol prices in Newbury Options

[Jonno]

I realise this has been discussed before but, for the last week, we have reached an even higher level of pricing inequality! It now costs 6p per litre more to buy petrol in Newbury than it does in Swindon. As I do about 20,000 miles per year that is £180 extra for the privilege of buying it at home. Possibly we should have a town-wide collection to help Asda fund a local store with a petrol station. I'd throw in £180........

[r.bartlett]

driving around 50k miles per year I do my best not to fill up in Newbury. I keep a very keen eye on prices around the whole southern UK region and there is no excuse for profiteering by the local suppliers.

[Simon Kirby]

driving around 50k miles per year I do my best not to fill up in Newbury. I keep a very keen eye on prices around the whole southern UK region and there is no excuse for profiteering by the local suppliers.

But it's not profiteering, not if you can choose to buy elsewhere.

[r.bartlett]

But it's not profiteering, not if you can choose to buy elsewhere.

just because I happen to visit far and wide is irrelevant in this discussion as many older drivers or invalids do not travel far for their own personal reason…

Motorway service stations are prime examples of profiteering in all the goods they sell by merely being there. Those motorists who are driving down the motorway looking for a small porcelain cottage to aid the journey may not know the local area off the motorway and the SS know it and abuse them because of it. Similarly buying a burger at Silverstone GP weekend. The list is endless.

[Simon Kirby]

just because I happen to visit far and wide is irrelevant in this discussion as many older drivers or invalids do not travel far for their own personal reason…

Sure, but if you're doing such small mileage you're not going to be using so very much fuel, and for those drivers the down-side of living somewhere affluent like Newbury is that their annual petrol bill is going to be in the order of £10 more expensive than if they lived in somewhere grotty like Redditch. Just running a car costs you annually a couple of grand in insurance, tax, mot, serving, and depreciation, and compared to that the fuel cost difference is vanishingly small, whereas running a small efficient car will save maybe a thousand times as much.

Motorway service stations are prime examples of profiteering in all the goods they sell by merely being there. Those motorists who are driving down the motorway looking for a small porcelain cottage to aid the journey may not know the local area off the motorway and the SS know it and abuse them because of it. Similarly buying a burger at Silverstone GP weekend. The list is endless.

Yes indeed, the precious things of the shop are much better value locally. Are you local?

[r.bartlett]

Sure, but if you're doing such small mileage you're not going to be using so very much fuel, and for those drivers the down-side of living somewhere affluent like Newbury is that their annual petrol bill is going to be in the order of £10 more expensive than if they lived in somewhere grotty like Redditch. Just running a car costs you annually a couple of grand in insurance, tax, mot, serving, and depreciation, and compared to that the fuel cost difference is vanishingly small, whereas running a small efficient car will save maybe a thousand times as much.


Yes indeed, the precious things of the shop are much better value locally. Are you local?

So if I read you right it's ok to rip off the elderly and infirmed if they live in Newbury because it's their own bloody fault.. .
oh and if they don't like it they can sod off to a poor part of the country and leave Newbury to the well abled with money and transport to go where they like..

Sounds reasonable

[Simon Kirby]

So if I read you right it's ok to rip off the elderly and infirmed if they live in Newbury because it's their own bloody fault.. .
oh and if they don't like it they can sod off to a poor part of the country and leave Newbury to the well abled with money and transport to go where they like..

Sounds reasonable

No, I don't think you've read me right. You said "many older drivers or invalids do not travel far for their own personal reason", and as I explained, if they're only driving low local mileage then the differential cost of their fuel with respect to some other notional place where the fuel is cheaper, is minimal, and insignificant compared to their motoring costs as a whole. On the other hand, if the elderly and infirmed [sic] are driving far enough abroad to make that differential fuel cost significant enough to worry about then they're also likely to be driving past cheaper petrol stations.

So where's the rip off? Yes, if you drive high mileage and you chose to buy your fuel at Newbury's most expensive garage then you will be paying quite a bit more for your fuel than you might, but that's the point - you're paying more than you might, because you have the option of buying it cheaper elsewhere. If you don't take that choice then fine, but no one is being ripped off here.

[Andy Capp]

you're paying more than you might, because you have the option of buying it cheaper elsewhere. If you don't take that choice then fine, but no one is being ripped off here.

I disagree. If fuel costs more in Newbury because it costs more to deliverer than elsewhere, then yes, but my understanding is that it doesn't.