Two out of three drivers use car less as cost of fuel soars

Published on Monday 20 June 2011 17:53

TWO-THIRDS of motorists are cutting back on driving due to rising fuel prices, according to a new survey.

Just under half of drivers blame the UK government for the high cost of fuel, the poll by motoring organisation the AA showed.

The number affected by the hike in petrol and diesel prices has risen from 63 per cent at Christmas to 76 per cent now.

Compared with 2007, 31 per cent of drivers say they now travel less by car, 16 per cent have cut back on other expenditure and 29 per cent have reduced both spending and motoring because of the rising cost of fuel.

Oil companies and oil-producing countries were next in line for blame for the high fuel prices found the survey.

Only 12 per cent blamed City traders and just 1 per cent blamed individuals owning filling stations.

More than four in five said there should be a body charged with monitoring the market to ensure fair prices.

The survey polled 150,000 AA members over the first 13 months of the coalition UK government.

The AA said the key issues apart from fuel prices had been potholes, parking, lack of traffic police, speed limits and speed awareness courses.

Edmund King, AA president, said: "The coalition government has talked about 'ending the war on the motorist' yet some of their actions appear at odds with motoring opinion. The cost of fuel is top of drivers' concerns. The number of drivers adversely affected by fuel prices is now running at an all-time high of 76 per cent."

Mr King said the government ditching the proposed fuel duty increase at the Budget earlier this year was not enough.

He added: "If the government really wants to get the motorist on board their policies should reflect mainstream motoring opinion."

Phil Flanders, director of the Road Hauliers Association for Scotland and Northern Ireland, said: "At the moment fuel accounts for 40 per cent of costs and it used to be 25 per cent not so long ago. The high cost of fuel makes it very difficult.

"With banks unwilling to lend and fuel companies demanding payment within 14 days, hauliers are effectively subsiding customers, some of whom delay paying for three or four months.

"Many haulage firms are already reducing fleets as there is no point owning vehicles if they can't make money."

Allan Archibald, a motorist from Glasgow, said: "I think twice these days about driving anywhere.

"I certainly only use they car when it's absolutely necessary, considering it takes 80 to fill the tank these days. We used to go for wee runs to Balloch or Helensburgh, but not any more."Lewis Macdonald, Labour's spokesman for infrastructure and capital investment, said: "The Chancellor has crippled future investment in North Sea oil and gas industry to perform a political stunt over fuel prices, yet here we see evidence that it has not done consumers any good.

"With fuel bills soaring and prices at the pump through the roof, ordinary Scots - especially families on low incomes - are already struggling to make ends meet, so it is not surprising people are tightening the purse strings and using their cars less.

"It is understandable that motorists are blaming the Tory-led government for the hikes in petrol prices given they ditched plans to introduce a fuel duty regulation and ramped VAT up to 20 per cent."