Usually at this time of the year we advise our readers on the ‘joys’ of bank holiday driving and how to conserve their fuel on long journeys – did you know that around 77 percent of us Brits usually travel over Easter, spending four hours and 30 minutes in the car, travelling a distance of 220 miles?

But alas this year, after the Government sparked the craziest fuel panic buying we can remember, many of us just don’t think it’s worth the bother.

The AA has predicted there will be two million fewer motorists taking to the road this bank holiday weekend because of record high petrol prices and lingering anxieties about fuel supplies.

Before the mad fuel panic, record average petrol prices were set at 140.9p per litre for unleaded and 147.1p per litre for diesel. But last week saw prices rise up to 10p per litre higher than this, sparking accusations of forecourts profiteering from the panic buying.

Even more damning is the suggestion the Treasury enjoyed a £33million tax windfall from the extra fuel sales – the chaos was fuelled by its own poor advice in the first place!

If fuel prices remain at these record levels, families could find filling a 50-litre tank will cost them £4.39 more than this time last year and £11.30 more than two years ago.

Paul Watters, an AA spokesman, has said: “Many of the drivers who felt compelled to fill their tanks to the brim last week now face another £70 or more hit if they set off on a driving break this Easter.”

But it’s not just petrol prices scaring off would-be holidaymakers this spring. The weather’s been torrid and unpredictable – flip flops one week, snow boots the next.

Traffic in the north east of England was brought to a standstill yesterday by gale-force winds, snow sleet and rain, while the M62 motorway between Manchester and Huddersfield closed due to 10 HGVs becoming stranded in blizzards. In Oldham a snowplough had to be dug out by mountain rescue.

The AA says journeys will peak today, on Maundy Thursday, but four in ten of its members will be staying at home this Easter. This spells bad news for businesses that rely on tourist spending.

With no let-up in the fuel price war that continues to wage since the Chancellor failed to implement desperately fought-for fuel duty cuts in last week’s Budget, we are now facing threats to the very fuel supplies we’re paying through the teeth for.

Workers’ union Unite announced on Tuesday (27 March) that 69 percent of the 2,000 balloted tanker drivers from seven different companies had voted in favour of industrial action over working conditions and health and safety.

The Government opposed the move, describing strike action as “wrong and unnecessary”, and demanded that Unite, the workers and their employers sit around a table to resolve any disputes. Conciliation service Acas has been drafted in to try and make this happen.

Be that as it may, the strike may still go ahead and drivers are now being warned to stockpile fuel to avoid any impact on their daily lives and businesses.  There have even been hints that trained military personnel could be used to drive tankers in the workers’ place. If it comes to it.

We’re not talking jerrycans like the cabinet minister Francis Maude, who advised drivers on Wednesday they should stock “maybe a little bit in the garage as well in a jerrycan”. This advice came under justified criticism by the Fire Brigades Union and the AA, which highlighted that, at a capacity of 20 litres, a jerrycan contains more than the official limit to safely store fuel in the home.

By the same token we appreciate that it is a sensible precaution to stockpile some fuel in case of emergencies, but the reaction from motorists across the country has been unprecedented – panic buying, queues at petrol stations and forecourts emptied of their supplies.

Today’s advice from Energy Minister Ed Davey is that drivers should refill tanks when half empty, after the Prime Minister was accused of being vague in saying drivers should stay “topped up”.

Fingers-crossed that these disputes are solved before the situation escalates though, as not every driver can afford to refill their tank as soon as it reaches the halfway mark. We will keep you updated on the situation at www.fuelcards.co.uk

Ten years and £10 billion – that is what’s still needed to cure England and Wales of its pothole plague once and for all.

Today’s (15 March) report from the Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA) made for depressingly familiar reading – complaints from drivers to local authorities about potholes have increased by 10 percent over the last year, freezing weather in 2011 made already pothole-riddled roads worse and we’re still no closer to fully resolving the problem.

The AIA survey suggests councils spent £90million repairing 1.7million potholes in England and Wales last year, but a further £10billion is still needed to improve the standards of all roads. The survey estimated annual funding shortfalls for repairing potholes in England and Wales stand at nearly £800million.

So when you’re bumping and banging along the road next time, you’ll know why that pothole (which seems like it’s been there since the beginning of time), has not yet been fixed. Fair enough, but it still doesn’t stop you from swearing and nervously wondering about the scale of the damage you’ve done to your car this time…

AIA chairman, Alan Mackenzie, said: “Severe winter weather would not, in itself, produce a plague of potholes on well-maintained roads.

“These disastrous figures result from decades of underfunding and enforced short-term planning.”

The AA’s Edmund King, meanwhile called for “a new approach to stop this vicious circle of decline which causes danger to all road users, particularly those on two wheels, and expensive damage to vehicles”.

Hear, hear, we say – as if it wasn’t bad enough fuel prices are through the roof, too many motorists are still having to foot the bill when a pothole leaves them unstuck!

To read the full report and learn about the startling scale of the pothole problem for yourself, visit the AIA website.

What do four pints of milk, a pack of apples, 1kg potatoes, a box of Sugar Puffs and a litre of diesel have in common? They all cost £1.43. Yes, you heard correct, diesel is now a record 143p per litre. Madness! How are transport and fleet companies expected to survive with this ever increasing overhead?

We checked out the AA’s Monthly Fuel Price Report for January 2011 which showed the average diesel price at 132p per litre – that means we’ve seen a 12p per litre rise over the last twelve months. Ok, so you might not think 12p is a lot in the grand scheme of things, but consider the average size of vehicle fuel tanks:

• Average two-litre car holds approximately 80 litres of fuel per tank
• Transit LCV van – 150 litres of fuel per tank
• Sprinter van – 200 litres per tank
• Standard HGV – 250 litres per tank
• Double HGV – 480 litres per tank

That’s an increase of between £9.60 and £57.60 per tank, depending on your vehicle. Now consider the impact if you have a fleet of vehicles; it’s simply unsustainable. We spoke to David Allen, partner at C S Allen and Sons, who said: “I’m literally turning work away because I don’t want to spend money on fuel. It’s cheaper not to do some of the work because the cost of the fuel is so high. The way things are at the minute, customers are going to have to pay more for the service we provide or we’ll all be out of business.”

Unsurprisingly, a recent survey has shown drivers cite high fuel prices as the most annoying thing about motoring in Britain today. More than 40 percent of all motorists say soaring petrol or diesel prices annoy them the most, the research from breakdown cover provider Autonational Rescue found.

However, the bad news is that analysts are predicting this is only going to get worse after oil-rich Iran announced it was cutting exports at once to Britain and France in retaliation for EU sanctions over its nuclear programme. The cost of a barrel of crude hit an eight-month high of $121 earlier this week and motorists were warned pump prices could shoot up by 20p per litre within six weeks.

On top of this, the Government has planned a 14 pence a gallon rise in petrol and diesel tax in August. Our economy simply can’t sustain this and it would lead to surging unemployment, a return to recession, a growing deficit and years of economic misery. It could make us the next Greece.

Join The Fuelcard Company and FairFuelUK in our call for Chancellor George Osborne to cut fuel duty in next month’s Budget, and helps us show them a cut in fuel duty will create jobs, stimulate growth and generate extra tax revenue as a result.  In other words, it’s in the Government’s own interest to cut fuel taxes – even they will be better off!

For more details and to find out how you can help, visit www.fairfueluk.com

The Fuelcard Company is proud to have been announced as a headline sponsor of FairFuelUK and act for more than 200,000 people and thousands of businesses in the campaign for fairer fuel prices.

As world events cause the steepest rise in wholesale diesel and petrol prices the UK has ever seen and more and more motorists are forced out of their vehicles. The Fuelcard Company has joined other major sponsors, the Road Haulage Association, RAC and Freight Transport Association to champion fairer fuel prices for all UK drivers.

In the run-up to the Spring Budget on 21 March, FairFuelUK will keep pressure on the Government to cut fuel duty further to stimulate the economy and introduce reforms to ensure taxation of petrol and diesel is kept fair. In 2012, the campaign will continue its success of 2011 with the first ever National FairFuel Day scheduled for Wednesday 7^th March. FairFuelUK supporters are invited to attend a mass lobby at Westminster which will allow them to exercise their rights to enter Parliament and ask to see their local MP to support cutting fuel duty.

According to the AA, motorists are now facing a further 2p a litre fuel price hike at the pumps which could take diesel prices to a new record high. And there may be more to come as petrol retailers warn that threats to international supply could push prices up further.

Motorists are already changing their driving behaviour in a big way as a direct result of soaring fuel prices. A poll by insurance broker Hastings Direct has seen nearly half of drivers reduce their weekly journeys by at least 25 miles, and one in five drivers would give up their cars altogether if prices rise above £2 a litre.

On 25 January, FairFuelUK and its ‘Big Four’ took the fuel price fight to the House of Commons and the first meeting of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Fair Fuel for Motorists and Hauliers. The group confirmed campaign aims for 2012: to cut fuel duty to stimulate the economy and reform the way in which fuel duty is charged.

The campaign has already led to Chancellor George Osborne scrapping the planned 3p fuel duty rise this month and a reduction in August’s planned fuel duty rise from 5p to 3p – to date the FairFuelUK campaign has saved motorists 9p per litre in duty (nearly 11p per litre including VAT). However, FairFuelUK has warned more must be done to protect families and businesses struggling with the high cost of petrol and diesel.

Jakes de Kock, Sales and Marketing Director at The Fuelcard Company, said: “I am very pleased to renew our commitment to supporting the FairFuelUK campaign. The plea for a fairer tax system for UK companies reliant on fuel to keep their businesses moving, is a worthy and necessary cause and impacts every consumer in the UK. The price of fuel affects UK competitiveness and raises the price of everything we buy in the shops.”

As FairFuelUK counts down to the March Budget, now is the time to make a difference and stop this fuel tax gravy train before it derails.

To support the FairFuelUK campaign and sign its petition to cut fuel duty, visit: www.fairfueluk.com

Worrying news for the fuel industry came this week in the shape of Petroplus, Europe’s largest independent oil refiner, announcing it is to file for insolvency.

As shares in Petroplus were suspended, so too were fuel supplies by the Coryton refinery in Essex, which is owned by the beleaguered oil giant. Unfortunately, it also supplies around 20 percent of London and the south east’s petrol. The question that springs to our mind is: what will the fall-out be, regionally and nationally, of one of the UK’s largest refineries stopping its taps?

Despite assurances from analysts and spokespeople that this shortfall will be made up for by other refineries in the south, this news will no doubt shake the industry and individual businesses already fighting to keep their heads above water.

And it’s not just national fuel supplies on the line. Coryton refinery directly employs about 500 staff and 350 contractors. Hundreds more Petroplus jobs elsewhere in the country are also at risk.

All in all, it’s been a bleak week for the oil industry. The EU has just approved sanctions to boycott fuel from Iran. And in the north of England, petrol supplies to Jet stations are under threat after fuel truck workers began a seven-day strike over pay and pensions  outside the ConocoPhillips-owned Humber oil refinery.

Peter Carroll of campaign group FairFuelUK, warned that petrol and diesel prices at the pumps could both pass £1.50 per litre “within days”.

“This could be the tipping point,” he told the Express. “The toxic combination of the situation with Iran, the Wincanton drivers’ strike and the Coryton refinery closure will be very dangerous.”

He also warned of further problems brought about by the “temptation to panic buy and profiteering”.

We don’t know about you, but all this has left us with a dreadful sinking feeling that the darkest days for the transport industry may indeed lie ahead…

To sign the national petition for fairer fuel prices, visit www.fairfueluk.com

This campaign has the backing of The Fuelcard Company, the Road Haulage Association, RAC and the Freight Transport Association.

One news story which certainly caught our eye this week focused on the effects poor eyesight and health among motorists can have on road safety.

We applaud Meg Munn MP, who was recognised with the Brake and Direct Line’s Road Safety Parliamentarian of the Month Award for her campaign to introduce regular eye tests for drivers, as reported by Fleet News on Friday.

The Fuelcard Company wholeheartedly supports Munn’s efforts to raise awareness of an issue which can be all too easy for drivers to underestimate. The consequences of sweeping the problem under the carpet however, can be tragic. Munn started her campaign after Fiona Buckley, the niece of a constituent, was run over and killed while crossing the road in 2008 by a driver with defective eyesight.

As part of the MP’s campaign, the Government is being urged to change current legislation, with driver eye tests carried out via scientific methods by qualified practitioners instead of the current limited number-plate test. The initiative also calls for drivers to be re-tested at least every ten years and aims to raise awareness among the motorists themselves – to drive home the importance of getting their eyes checked at least every two years.

This should act as a major wake-up call for motorists not to underestimate the effects health issues can have on their driving awareness, behaviour and safety, as well as for fleet managers who have a duty of care to their employees and other road users. Regular health checks for conditions such as high or low blood pressure can alert drivers to problems that could potentially affect their ability to drive safely.

Earlier this month, we also reported on the effects heavy colds and flu can have on drivers’ reaction times. Read on tofind out how illness can be akin to drinking four double whiskies!

It is widely known how dangerous it is to drive under the influence of drink or drugs, so why should health problems, which in some cases bring the same cognitive side-effects, be viewed any differently?

So, this week ministers promised to cut the red-tape to allow councils more freedom to erect road signs where they are needed. This is great news, although long overdue. The Government has finally realised that the people who know the road network best are the local council workers who drive on it every day.

Under the new rules, councils will no longer need to gain the approval of Whitehall for new signs that they require on a regular basis, including those to warn lorry drivers of narrow roads.

Transport Minister, Norman Baker, said: “I am bringing an end to the ludicrous situation where councils have to come to central government for permission to put up signs they need to use.”

Anyone who’s driven an HGV in an unfamiliar town or city will breathe a sigh of relief as they will no doubt have experienced that unsettling feeling when the satellite navigation system tells you to ‘turn left’ down a narrow street. If you take the plunge and make the turn, there’s always the risk that the street will narrow further or worse turn into a dirt track. But then if you reject the advice of the technology system and go it alone there’s a chance you’ll get lost and find yourself in an even tighter corner. What a conundrum!

If councils have the power to erect road signs alerting fleet drivers to unsuitable roads the world will be a much better, less stressed-out place. And residents living on said dirt tracks will no longer have the misery of seeing enormous vehicles hurtling past their houses or have to direct confused drivers back to the main road.

The change in procedure is expected to take place from 30^th January 2012. What a great Christmas present for lorry drivers everywhere!

We’ve all been there. It’s quarter to nine in the morning, you’re late for work, and you’re stuck behind an elderly driver travelling at 30mph on a 60mph road. It is very frustrating, however we were surprised that 60 percent of motorists feel so inconvenienced that they believe elderly people should be forced to give up their driving licences.  Shockingly almost a quarter (24 per cent) said that by the age of 75, 70 or even younger, motorists should be banned from driving completely!

The research was conducted by the International Longevity Centre (ILC-UK), who polled 1,005 adults on their views of older drivers. Eighty-five percent of respondents believed re-testing should be compulsory with 40 percent of these saying this should happen at the age of 65 or younger.

While we think asking older drivers to re-take their test is a good idea, it seems a bit harsh to force perfectly capable drivers off the road just because they’ve hit 70. What about all the super-grans and granddads that do sky-dives and live to over 100? It seems cruel to rob them of 30 years of motoring.

At present, drivers are not required to re-take their driving test, however, they must complete a medical questionnaire to confirm they are fit to drive, and must re-apply for their driving licence when they reach the age of 70. This system seems perfectly adequate. Those drivers who do not pass the medical test will quietly be refused a licence renewal and the road will be a much safer place, while motorists with all their faculties intact will be allowed to continue driving. Otherwise the Government will be required to source additional public transport to cope with the hoards of older people suddenly descending on the network.

While there’s no denying that the research from the International Longevity Centre is interesting reading, for once we hope the strength of public opinion does not sway the Government into needlessly banning the older generation from the highway.

Avoiding potholes has become part of everyday life – just another thing to look out for on your way to work, along with cyclists and stray children. In fact I’d go as far as to say that swerving around potholes is an acquired skill, which has been honed over the past year as the number of potholes on our roads has multiplied. The size of the pothole determines the level of skill required. For a small hole, it’s about aiming your vehicle so the wheels straddle the crater. Hmmm, why do I feel like I’m writing a Jackie Collins novel? A larger hole is more demanding, requiring the driver to deftly swerve the vehicle without crossing into the oncoming lane of traffic, or if the hole is a real monster and cannot be avoided, approaching it with the right level of speed that avoids damaging your vehicle. This pothole business is tricky stuff!

So, we were not surprised this morning when the AA released the results of a study which found that the number of potholes on UK roads has increased and concluded that the UK is facing a pothole epidemic before the winter has even really begun. Its army of 1,000 ‘streetwatchers’ found an average of 12.9 potholes per neighborhood last year which has risen to 14.9 this year suggesting that local authorities have been overwhelmed by the problem.

Yorkshire, the North East and Scotland were among the areas worst affected by potholes, with an average of 19 in each neighborhood for the North East and Yorkshire and a whopping 20.1 in Scotland.

“The AA Streetwatch volunteers have once again shown that the UK has a pothole plague which has not gone away despite extra repairs this year,” said Edmund King, the AA’s president. “Highways authorities need to get to grips with the pothole problem, as compensation claims will soar when cold weather strikes and roads start breaking up again placing greater burdens on already strained budgets.”

The AA study coincides with an inquest into the death of 67-year-old Margaret Nicholl who was killed when she was thrown from her bike after hitting a deep pothole. What will it take for the Government to address this serious problem? Motorists are facing increasing repair bills as their suspension becomes damaged from bouncing in and out of potholes and for cyclists and motorcyclists, hitting a pothole can mean life or death. Let’s get this sorted out before another tragedy occurs.