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Some of you may have heard
through the grapevine that it was my intention not to stand at
the forthcoming election. And no, it wasn’t a rumour. It really
has been such a lousy year for Maxine and myself that I really
thought that perhaps the time had come to take time out to relax
more. At the beginning of the year, Maxine’s mum passed away and just a few months ago my brother Philip and I lost our youngest brother, Brian. This tragedy certainly hit us hard and is one we are all still finding it difficult to come to terms with. Now, as we approach the end of the year, I have just come out of hospital following a knee replacement operation! So ‘lousy’ is probably quite a mild word to use for 2008 so far as the Son family is concerned. At this point, I’d like to take the opportunity to thank the many |
Mike Son’s bits and pieces… |
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 Mike squeezes into the car! Drivers both within Dial-a-Cab and outside of the Society for the letters, emails and text messages of condolence to my family and myself. I would also like to thank the Managers and Staff of Dial-a-Cab for their sympathies and the Board for their kind thoughts and consideration in what has been a very difficult time. Don’t let anyone tell you that letters of sympathy and the like do not make a difference. They do. It may not |
change the situation, but it
helps to know that others care. On a
brighter note… Mike Son |
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FUEL DUTY REDUCTION: HMG RESPOND… |
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| Many
Dial-a-Cab drivers signed a recent online petition that asked
Prime Minister Gordon Brown to reduce fuel duty. The answer from
Alistair Darling’s office, whilst unsurprising, is interesting
and worth publishing… "In response to the concerns of many people about high fuel prices, the Chancellor of the Exchequer has decided that there will be no increase in fuel duty this year. As a result of this decision, main road fuel duty rates have remained frozen at 50.35 pence per litre since October 2007. Duty rates for alternative road fuels and rebated oils have also been frozen. Successive decisions by the Government not to increase fuel duty mean that it is now 17 per cent lower in real terms than in 1999. Had the fuel duty rate increased in line with inflation since then, it would now be 61 pence per litre. Had it increased in line with the previous 3% escalator (which was abolished by the Government in 1999), it would now be almost 79 pence per litre. Recent high prices are therefore the result not of fuel duty increases made by the Government, but of sharp rises in world commodity prices, especially the price of crude oil. This has almost doubled over the past year and reached a real-terms record high of $146 per barrel in July. This has inevitably had significant knock-on effects on retail prices, which the Government is committed to taking into account when considering decisions on fuel duty. Prices are thus a matter for retailers and their suppliers and the Government believes that the consumer is best served by the operation of open competition between companies, subject to UK competition law under the Competition Act 1998. |
The
Government continues to prioritise tackling the underlying
causes and impacts of high energy prices in international
discussions with our EU, G7/8 and G20 partner countries. The
Prime Minister recently led a delegation of Government and
business leaders to the Middle East to discuss energy and the
economy with oil-producing states. To build on the progress made at the Jeddah Energy Meeting in June, the UK will be hosting an international Summit of producers and consumers in London on 19 December to take forward the work to address inefficiencies in the international oil market. This will focus on improving theinvestment climate for new oil supply, enhancing market transparency and energy efficiency as well as the development of alternative energy sources, with the aim of reducing prices for consumers." |
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