THE countdown has begun to next week’s Budget and the nation’s 37million motorists fear they will be left counting the cost.
There is concern that for the first time in 12 years fuel duty on petrol and diesel will go up.
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Here, five readers tell Mike Ridley how pump prices are still hitting their finances hard and warn Chancellor Jeremy Hunt he must Keep it Down on Wednesday.
Nurse
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INTENSIVE care nurse Mandy Cole cannot afford to go home to her husband and son after work because of high fuel prices.
Mandy, 39, earns £30,000 a year in her job, but spends at least £200 a month on fuel.
She lives in Tavistock, Devon, with husband Tony, 52, and their ten-year-old son, Taylor.
Mandy works in a hospital in Plymouth, but to save money on the high cost of petrol at the end of her shift, rather than drive the nine miles home she often stays with a friend.
She says: “I love my job — it’s so rewarding. But if I can stay overnight with a friend, I will.
“It means leaving my son overnight. I’d prefer to get back to see him, but fuel is so expensive. It’s a horrible choice to have to make.
“The Chancellor has to keep duty frozen.
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“A rise will have a massive impact.”
Hairdresser
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HAIRDRESSER Helen Mainwaring closed her salon in Swansea, south Wales, to go on the road cutting hair in customers’ homes.
But when lockdown hit, social distancing measures meant she could no longer go into clients’ houses and she was forced to take a job in the family business, selling shellfish on a market stall. She now spends about £60 a week on fuel.
Helen, 40, says: “Any rise in duty will definitely have an impact.
“I have to factor the cost of fuel into the price of the haircut when I drive to see customers.
“I save money by living rent-free at my mum’s, but because my boyfriend and I don’t live together, when we meet we often go for drives.
“It means that sometimes I put £20 into the car — it’s a lot. I’ve thought about asking other people to see if they might be interested in a lift share.”
Single mum
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SINGLE mum Laura Gregory can only afford to put £12 of petrol in her car each week.
And when the money runs out, she and her two children walk.
Dental receptionist Laura, from Gravesend, Kent, says: “I do the school run with my ten-year-old son before heading to work. I put £12 of petrol in the car on Monday and when it runs out, we have to walk.
“It means I walk the half-hour journey to school more and more as we get less petrol for our money.”
It also means her 2006 Toyota Corolla spends most of the time parked outside while Laura and her children walk or rely on friends for lifts.
Laura has this advice for Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt: “It’s an absolute joke if they put fuel duty up. It’s embarrassing asking for £12 of petrol. I’ll be walking a lot more.”
Cabbie
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BLACK cab driver Grant Davis will see fares go up by seven per cent soon, but that rise will barely cover his increasing expenses.
Grant, from Bromley, Kent, now puts £200 of diesel into his taxi each month.
He cannot afford £97,500 for a new extended-range hybrid cab.
He says: “Putting fuel duty up in the Budget would be outrageous.
“Why do governments always take the easy way out and make working-class people pay more for fuel — ‘just stick 2p a litre on the motorist, they won’t mind’.
“If the price of diesel had dropped to where it should be I wouldn’t be so upset, but the oil companies are raking it in.
“They are making so much money, they’d happily pay a windfall tax — take it from them, not us.
“And in London, the Mayor wants to fleece us even more by extending the Ultra Low Emission Zone.
“For hard-working people it’s just going to get worse.”
White van man
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WHITE van man David Todd only drives 7,000 miles a year. It is HALF the mileage he used to do, but these days he is forced to turn down work that will cost too much in fuel.
Dave, 37, says: “All drivers understand that we need a properly funded NHS and everyone pays their dues for the good of the country. But haven’t us drivers suffered enough?
“Those of us still working have been through the highest fuel prices we’ve ever known.
“Surely we don’t need another 2p on a litre.”
Dave of Billingham, Teesside, says: “I do house removals, but if I’m not going to have a full van I won’t take on the job because it isn’t worth doing once you deduct the fuel cost. The price of diesel has dropped a bit from its peak last year, but it’s still ridiculous.
“It would cost me over £100 to fill my van. The last thing we need is another price rise. I hope the Chancellor will listen to drivers.”
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