Petrol Price Campaign

[rdobbie]

At a BP garage near the Trafford Centre in Manchester recently, I bought some BP Ultimate Petrol. The pump said the price was 97.9p/litre. When I examined my receipt (as I always do), the receipt said I had been charged 98.9p/litre. I used my g/f's mobile to take a photo of the price displayed on the pump.

I complained to the staff inside the garage who really didn't give a sh*t, and said they didn't have the authority to refund the difference. So I sent an e-mail to BP's customer care department. They said that although the site was branded as BP, it was independently owned so this matter had nothing whatsoever to do with BP.

However, they said they would ask the owner of the garage to contact me. That was ten days ago and I've heard nothing. Obviously I'm not losing sleep about my refund, but I think it's an absolute bloody disgrace that this garage can get away with this, and that BP can shrug off all responsibility given that their branding was plastered all over the garage.

I suppose legally it may not be BP's problem, but do they not care about the reputation of their brand, I wonder?

Moral - ALWAYS ask for a receipt and ALWAYS check you've been charged the same price per litre as it says on the pump.

[babyben]

At a BP garage near the Trafford Centre in Manchester recently, I bought some BP Ultimate Petrol. The pump said the price was 97.9p/litre. When I examined my receipt (as I always do), the receipt said I had been charged 98.9p/litre. I used my g/f's mobile to take a photo of the price displayed on the pump.

I complained to the staff inside the garage who really didn't give a sh*t, and said they didn't have the authority to refund the difference. So I sent an e-mail to BP's customer care department. They said that although the site was branded as BP, it was independently owned so this matter had nothing whatsoever to do with BP.

However, they said they would ask the owner of the garage to contact me. That was ten days ago and I've heard nothing. Obviously I'm not losing sleep about my refund, but I think it's an absolute bloody disgrace that this garage can get away with this, and that BP can shrug off all responsibility given that their branding was plastered all over the garage.

I suppose legally it may not be BP's problem, but do they not care about the reputation of their brand, I wonder?

Moral - ALWAYS ask for a receipt and ALWAYS check you've been charged the same price per litre as it says on the pump.

Go and see Trading Standards, I'm sure they'd love to help you.

[Spencer For Hire]

If it's of any interest, Tesco now appear to be giving out petrol vouchers with shopping receipts. After spending just over £60 in store on Thursday, I got a 5p off per litre voucher, allowing me to buy my petrol for 82.9p per litre...

So your Tesco forecourt sells petrol at 87.9p? Lucky bastard (then pinches self for becoming conditioned to believe that anything below 90p is cheap when only a year ago we considered anything over 80p to be a rip off).

Its still around that price where I am as well, must be a Yorkshire thing. It hasn't reached 90p yet.

It seems to vary wildly around here. In North Yorkshire it's a lot more expensive, with one independent garage in Harrogate charging 99.9p. Morrisons in the town (Sir Ken's local store) is also over 90p now. Go 20 minutes down the road into Leeds though, and the price comes down straight away. The 87.9 is at the Seacroft Tescos... although on the negative side, you do have to go into Seacroft.

I wonder some older petrol station signs only have enough room for xx.xp prices. A good enough reason never to go above 99.9p if ever I heard one!!

I think most of those who have gone over 100p have just done away with the decimal point.

One thing which gets me about the high tax on fuel is that it's always justified by environmental reasons. Now that we're reaching almost £1 per litre, are there any fewer cars on the roads? Are there bollocks.

The other fatal flaw of this policy is that as fuel gets more expensive, public transport operators have to put up their prices to cover costs, so the incentive to switch from cars to buses or trains is cancelled out.

[russnet]

Well petrol has gone through the roof this week. We are now experiencinh 96.9p unleaded and 99.9p for diesel at our BP stores in Milton Keynes. It really is crazy money at the moment so lets all hope for a big protest. Nothing like a bit of panic buying! lol

[rdobbie]

My local independent (rip off) garage has gone up 5p overnight. Unleaded is now 99.9 and the price for diesel has gone blank, as they haven't got space for enough digits on the board. When you look at the pump, however, you see it's 104.9.

It's amazing how people tolerate it because it's being blamed on "world events" causing shortages in the supply chain. Bollocks. It's got everything to do with
a) the obscene, unprecedented levels of profit being made by the oil companies, and
b) the frankly ridiculous amount of tax levied by the government, particularly on diesel, which in the rest of the world is cheaper than petrol as it's taxed as a commodity not a luxury.

No wonder the corporations call Britain "Treasure Island", they can charge anything they like and the public won't do a thing.

[Anonymous]

Nick, it will probably be easier if you get your Bently converted to run on salt water. A Welsh bloke called Bryn did my 4x4 for £50.

What's shown below has just floated into my e-mail system. It seems like a fairly good idea, so I post it here at least for your interest.

If you DO agree with the sentiment, please feel free to copy and paste it into an e-mail and send it on.

I don't see it can do any harm, and it MIGHT just do some good.