Motorway Madness

[tcwozere]

Originally Posted by codprawn

Well I agreed with the fuel protest 110% - I can assure you the amount of taxes they charge us and the way they meddle with our roads bring a lot more misery. The fuel protests actually succeeded in stopping the fuel tax escalator in it's tracks - at least for quite a while. Someone just had to stand up to them - the amount of tax we pay on our fuel is OBSCENE and it's the poorer people and the economey that suffers the most.

iirc, petrol is now 15p(ish) per litre above the figure that sparked the protests.. Where's Mr Williams now? I would guess he is more than happy working for the establishment, (and claiming vast expenses,) that keeps our fuel costs at their obscene level.. Yes fuel tax is V high, but lets be honest Codders, 90% of everything in this country is higher than other first world countries.. Including wages.. We aren't a poor country, (no, really.. )

Originally Posted by codprawn

Ambulances were NOT stopped from getting to hospitals - in fact they had a clear run as their fuel supplies were protected.

Eventually protected.. Their "clear run" was obstructed by countless people blocking the roads as they queued for fuel.. (Including those idiots who were topping up a tank that was 99% full.. ) They cancelled non-emergency usage, including transporting people for kidney dialysis.. Hospital staff, (including ambulance drivers,) couldn't actually get to work, until the gov decided who was, and who wasn't a priority.. But, its all well and good making sure Doctors and Nurses were allowed fuel, but pretty pointless if the hospital maintenance staff couldn't get in to make sure the lights worked..

It wasn't just Ambulances, (I should have said Emergency Services, but the initial comments were about Ambulances,) Fire Engines were only responding to emergency calls, which begs the question as to what was an emergency, and what wasn't..

The fuel protests were said to have cost this country 1 billion, (the workers, not the gov..) But its reassuring to see Mr Williams has done alright..

Originally Posted by codprawn

I find it incredible you have never been stuck in a jam for more than 40 mins - either very lucky or you don't have to travel long distances at peak times.

Some of it may be down to luck. However, I do regularly travel to and from Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Luton, Central London and plenty of other places during Friday afternoon rush hour.. One other reason is that I could be good at my job..

Originally Posted by codprawn

I use tomtom and autoroute with gps on a laptop and have very good knowledge of the routes I traveled - at one stage 2,000 miles a week!!!

I have tom-tom, but not with the traffic installed.. I rely on the fact that some places are to be avoided like the plague at certain times of the day.. The BBC's wap site,, local BBC Radio, and the Highways Agency website are useful sources of traffic flow..

[codprawn]

Originally Posted by tcwozere

iirc, petrol is now 15p(ish) per litre above the figure that sparked the protests.. Where's Mr Williams now? I would guess he is more than happy working for the establishment, (and claiming vast expenses,) that keeps our fuel costs at their obscene level.. Yes fuel tax is V high, but lets be honest Codders, 90% of everything in this country is higher than other first world countries.. Including wages.. We aren't a poor country, (no, really.. )

There is something you may not have realised. When the fuel protests took place the oil price had risen to $30 a barrel - nowadays its over $70. Britain never saw the benefits of cheap fuel when the oil price was low because the tax was so high!!!

[Mugshot]

Originally Posted by Chrisch

My boat is no cheaper than yours to run.
Chris

According to your profile you don't have a boat by my reckoning that should equate to it costing you approximately nothing to run, just a wild stab in the dark here but I'm willing to bet that Codders boat cost a little more than nothing to run.

[codprawn]

Originally Posted by Chrisch

If you think it is a token gesture this is simply because so many other people are equally selfish and ignorant.

But hey that's the brits... moan moan moan moan moan....

In a capitalist world the way to limit resources is through economics. In order to reduce planet-killing emissions that means putting up the cost of fuel. Tough. Live with it. Shut up whinging. My boat is no cheaper than yours to run.

Chris

China may be selfish and ignorant - on the other hand they may just want the same sort of industrial revolution the West did 200 years ago. The problem is there are BILLIONS of them!!!

Why don't you and the other Greens start suggesting that the Chinese should cut their emmissions drastically as they are the major problem now?

Imagine 2 neighbours with a river behind their houses. One of the men throws all his rubbish into the river and gets his friends to join in - all the fish die. The other man recycles all his waste and treats the river with respect. Does it help the fish? Not at all unless he can stop the other man from doing it!!!

Why should I personally suffer from token gestures that don't make a scrap of difference? Why don't all the environmentalists protest in China? Could it be because they will be shot???

And no I am not going to stoop to your level and start insulting YOUR country...............

[Biggles]

I think everybody should sit at home for a week. No driving, No boating, No flying.
Just tell the Government your lowering your Carbon Footprint.
Then all the fuel revenue would dry up and the Government would soon shut up.

Before you do this make sure you have enough beer and fags to last you.

And how can all these tree hugging environmentalists that cause so much stress and disruption manage to survive if they don't work. Somebody should look at the benifits these people are on.

NR.