Fuel price protesters are to hit the road
Campaigners are set to take to the streets of the West Midlands to protest against the rising cost of fuel - as prices at the pumps hit a record high.
Campaigners are set to take to the streets of the West Midlands to protest against the rising cost of fuel - as prices at the pumps hit a record high.
A protest has been planned for May 1, travelling from the Molineux in Wolverhampton through the city, to Dudley and Bridgnorth.
Drivers are calling for fuel giants BP and Esso to lower their prices by at least 20 pence. It comes as it was announced petrol prices had reached a new record high, topping the previous figure of 119.7p a litre set in July 2008.
Rising wholesale costs, a 1p increase in fuel duty on April 1 and the high cost of oil have been blamed for pushing the price of fuel up by one to two-tenths of a penny a day. Last week, the Express and Star revealed average petrol prices were at 120.7p per litre in the West Midlands — an increase of 4p since last month.
Diesel prices have increased by around 5p and are standing at around 121.6p per litre.
A national protest group which started on social networking site Facebook has now attracted more than 26,000 members, including hundreds from the West Midlands.
Some members of the Fuel Strike group are planning to take part in a protest in the Midlands, meeting at Molineux at 11am.
They plan to boycott Esso and BP petrol stations around the region. A campaign poster set up for the protest says: "We will boycott BP and Esso from May 1 until they lower their prices by at least 20p per litre.
"Then when they get into line, buy your fuel from them and boycott those companies that don't follow suit."
One group member, Steve Allington, wrote: "Surely if enough people only bought their fuel from one supplier the other suppliers would have to start to drop their price otherwise they would not sell any fuel.
"Everybody rants and raves and nothing changes.
"Come on let's do something and get the price lowered, if not through the government then through forcing the big suppliers to drop their prices by not buying their fuel, surely they will drop it at some point so to sell their product."
BP said it monitored prices on a daily basis and tried to give customers value for money.
Mark Salt, company spokesman, said: "Prices at BP's company owned sits are based on local market conditions taking into account such things as the cost of getting the fuel to the particular site, the price of crude oil as well as the actual cost of producing the fuel."
Hauliers and taxi companies have spoken about their struggle to stay in business due to increasing petrol prices.
Gary Owen, manager of Bilston-based Highfield Haulage, said ever-increasing prices could shut businesses down.
