Subject : Campaign to Reduce UK Petrol Prices - a rip-off at 80p/litre.We are going to hit close to 89p a litre by the summer. Want petrol prices to come down? We need to take some intelligent, united action. Philip Hollsworth offered this good idea:  This makes MUCH MORE SENSE than the "don't buy petrol on a certain day" campaign that was going around last April or May! The oil companies just laughed at that because they knew we wouldn't continue to hurt ourselves by refusing to buy petrol. It was more of an inconvenience to us than it was a problem for them.
BUT, whoever thought of this idea, has come up with a plan that can really work. Please read it and join in!
Now that the oil companies and the OPEC nations have conditioned us to think that the cost of a litre is CHEAP at 77p -80p, we need to take  aggressive action to teach them that BUYERS control the marketplace not sellers. With the price of petrol going up more each day, we consumers need to take action. The only way we are going to see the price of petrol come down is if we hit someone in the pocket by not  purchasing their Petrol! And we can do that WITHOUT hurting ourselves.
Here's the idea: For the rest of this year, DON'T purchase ANY petrol from the two Biggest oil companies (which now are one), ESSO and BP. If they are not selling any petrol, they will be inclined to reduce their prices. If they reduce their prices, the other companies will have to follow suit. But to have an impact, we need to reach literally millions of Esso and BP petrol buyers. It's really simple to do!! Now, don't whimp out on me at this point...keep reading and I'll explain how simple it is to reach millions of people!!
I am sending this note to a lot of people. If each of you send it to at least ten more (30 x 10 = 300)... and those 300 send it to at least ten more (300 x 10 = 3,000) ... and so on, by the time the message reaches the sixth generation of people, we will have reached over THREE MILLION consumers! If those three million get excited and pass this on to ten friends each, then 30 million people will have been contacted! If it goes one level further, you guessed it..... THREE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE!!! Again, all You have to do is send this to 10 people. That's all (and not buy at ESSO/BP).
How long would all that take? If each of us sends this email out to ten more people within one day of receipt, all 300 MILLION people could conceivably be contacted within the next 8 days!!! I'll bet you didn't think you and I had that much potential, did you! Acting together we can make a difference. If this makes sense to you, please pass this message on.
PLEASE HOLD OUT UNTIL THEY LOWER THEIR PRICES TO THE 69p a LITRE RANGE

Action:
It's easy to make this happen. Just forward this email, and buy your petrol at Shell, Tesco, Sainsburys, Morrisons (75p), Jet etc. i.e. Boycott BP and Esso.

Sorry but this is old hat, won't work and in any case Esso is the cheapest garage in a 25 mile radius here!

it didn't work before and i won't work now ..the fuel crisis of 2000 caused misery for many people all over the uk as we know it almost stopped services and emergency workers , i agree fuel prices are high and will be getting higher but it mostly tax on oil that makes it this so , not saying fuel companies don't make money PS I work for BP ............how about not using our cars for short trips that can be walked it would save millions a year ?????

Why should I make a round journey of 40 odd miles just to buy cheaper petrol!

The major part of petrol cost is in the tax and the government are unable to control their spending habits, too many people now buy on credit rather than save up or only buy something when they have enough money to cover it (mortgages excepted).

If they do cut the tax on petrol they will only put on something else - maybe absolute necessities such as food - or chocolate !!!!!!!

I have often wondered who started this particular type of chain-email.  It it was a competitor of Esso and BP it was a brilliant idea
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If anyone watched Top Gear the other night with Jeremy Clarkson doing a round trip to Scotland on one tank of petrol it showed how people can help themselves to conserve petrol - no air-con or open windows (reduces fuel consumption and drag) nothing electrial on except for the radio and play mild-singalong music as it has been shown that loud or rock music can make for aggressive driving, keep the speed down etc etc.

I can't see this working...70p-80p of petrol per a litre goes to the government on taxes...means only 20p-30p is going to oil companies...the cost of oil is going up (like everything) which means price to petrol goes up...which = taxes going up...therefore everything is to do with taxes...petrol stations are only trying to make a profit (a loss won't do them anything) and its the government we should fighting...not the petrol stations themselves.

For example if taxes came off of petrol then they would be put on something else...(lets use chocolate as an example here) so they put the price up on chocolate.... you would all then stop buying chocolate because the cost has gone up.

Sainsburys, Morison’s, Tesco etc can afford to keep there petrol abit cheaper then anywhere else as well...I have forgotten the term for this but if a supermarket makes a loss in selling petrol, they will not feel the pain as they have there insurance business will "financially support" the loss made in petrol...this is how they keep costs low...a business like Esso or BP only has petrol to sell...nothing else to fall back on...

Rox

..yes I  agree, the big supermarkets can view petrol sales as more of a 'loss leader' or service to customers as they make huge amounts on the other things they sell and should only need to make a few pence on petrol. And there is a hidden cost on petrol prices, it puts up the cost of everything we buy including food. I for one won't buy vegatables flown halfway round the world using precious fuel,  spring onions (we have fields of them ready down the road) and beans from Kenya..why?.. onions from Chillie to name a few. I don't think the government should keep the tax on petrol so high either or shift it on to something else, there is plenty of money around to spend on getting involved in things that do not concern us (while turning a convenient blind eye to others) and wasting money on the corupt EEC all of which we pay for..so can I have some of the huge amount of tax I pay on my small wage to help with my petrol cost please? I live in a rural area with no public transport...will anyone listen? No..all too busy lining there own pockets Campign to reduce the cost..waste of time the government will never listen..why should they bother they are alright..