Good news for us motorists, or so it would seem. On the other hand some news reports are suggesting that unless motorists pay for all the potholes to be filled in, the roads will be virtually undriveable anyway.

The Government is hinting strongly that it won’t be adding the 1p per litre fuel tax at the next budget. At the moment it costs £102.00 to fill our Transit up with conventional fuel and £60 with LPG. This of pushes up the price of delivery.

As one person said on the Facebook update at the weekend “Filling your car up is a better diet than weight watchers, you can’t afford to eat and run a car”.

Think about it from a business point of view, how can the customer keep paying for goods that are increasing in price constantly? They can’t, wages are not keeping up with the cost of living and as a business creeping expenses have to be watched carefully.

Let’s hope the proposed fuel stabiliser is pushed through and the cut in costs is passed on. It was rumoured that inflated prices were being charged in supermarket filling stations as they had had a poor trading quarter. How much truth there was in that rumour I don’t know. What I do know is Tesco is currently more expensive by 3p a litre than our local Jet garage. Traditionally it was the other way around.

There are still talks of rural area discounts which would be a step in the right direction. But what counts as rural? Some parts of Essex like Burnham on Crouch are remote, the Dengie and parts of Colchester. These areas may not be considered rural but having worked extensively in these areas for the last 10 years, I’d have a hard time convincing the residents who can get a bus to Chelmsford on a Monday, but the return bus isn’t until Wednesday.

Fuel and fuel prices are going to be on everyones lips for the foreseeable future.

Let’s hope it’s because the price is finally coming down again.

Kevin