British gas gets to almost $15/gallon at some stations
So you think $4.50 a gallon is tough to swallow? How about nearly $15/gallon? That's what drivers in some parts of south-west England and Wales are faced with this week. A strike by tanker drivers who deliver fuel to Shell stations has left many stations in the region running out of gas and diesel. We all know what happens when fuel supplies run low but demand doesn't; it's economics 101. This time around, station owners have started ramping up the prices to as much as £1.99 a litre or $14.76 per US gallon. Talks between the union and the trucking company are ongoing, but at this point it looks like the strike will be continuing through this weekend.[Source: AutoCar]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Tim 11:56AM (6/18/2008)
While supplies last...
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Monkey 1:36PM (6/18/2008)
"British gas gets to almost $15/gallon at some stations"
What an overly dramatic headline. This wasn't "some stations" at all, this was just ONE, SINGLE station in Devon which raised its prices that high.
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steven 2:53PM (6/18/2008)
And after everyone yelled and screamed about it they dropped the price BACK down to £1.20 per liter the next day.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/7458425.stm
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MemphisNET 3:36PM (6/18/2008)
Criminal. It's like after Katrina when some stations here in central/southern Ontario decided that they could try $2.50 / litre - they were quickly stripped of their operators license by their parent companies (Shell, Pioneer, Sunoco etc)
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lodel 4:09PM (6/18/2008)
You can't really compare Dollars to Pounds or Euros without factoring in their cost of living/earnings ratio. It doesn't really mean anything unless you're an American spending US dollars.
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Dad 9:34PM (6/18/2008)
"Shell stations has left many stations in the region running out of gas and diesel."
Sounds like a good thing, more fuel for the rest of us!!!!!!!!!!
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brn 5:01PM (6/18/2008)
It's this kind of headline that continues to cast a shadow on AutoblogGreen. The average price of unleaded in the UK (ref: petrolprices.com) is 118p. At todays exchange rate (ref xe.com), that comes to $8.76 per US gallon. UK fuel is higher octane than US fuel. Also, an extremely large percentage of it is tax (we pay just pay in different ways).
Autoblog Green, can you stop being so friggin sensationalistic? It discredits you.
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Derek 5:21PM (6/18/2008)
The octane in the UK is measured differently than in the US though. We use the R+M/2 calculation, where the UK uses only the R or M octane rating, forget which.
I know the UK pays a lot of gas tax, but the US has out fair share. The sources I have found put the average tax per gallon in the US at $0.42.
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Derek 5:24PM (6/18/2008)
I should add that I agree the headline is very sensational. High prices caused by a strike are not an indication of anything other than a localized shortage.
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stevefazek 6:55PM (6/18/2008)
Take away the tax from the US and europe and they pay about the same.
At best a dollar more.
What you think pays for free health care and university and great pensions?
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Peekoyle 2:26PM (6/19/2008)
Free jar of vaseline at every fill up. Thats the least they could do.
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