Time to get revved up and slam the brakes on fuel costs before it’s too late

When petrol prices began to rise he felt sure the rumblings of discontent would soon be mobilised into a far more visible protest. It was after all an issue which affects most families in the country and a swathe of British industry, but when plans for the usual go-slows failed to materialise, Willson admits he was left bemused.

It was part of the reason why he joined forces with the campaign group FairFuelUK, that and the fact that when it comes to delivering a good rant against what is widely seen as the Government’s continued attack on the humble motorist, Willson is something of an old-hand.

Cars have been his thing for as long as he can remember. One of his early businesses was a dealership selling top of the range sports cars, he edited a magazine devoted to the second hand market and he spent 10 years presenting Top Gear. It was before the show, reinvented by Willson’s co-host Jeremy Clarkson, became a mainstream success, but while he might not have been part of the winning formula, his knowledge about the motoring industry has never been in doubt.

“It seems to me that with every passing year we get less good at protesting,” says Willson. “We have become adept at coming up with excuses not to do something, but when it comes to petrol prices we are running out of time. If we keep ignoring the problem there’s a very real possibility that we will soon be paying £1.60 a litre. Basically we need to stop watching Dancing On Ice and do something which might actually make our lives better.”

Willson is not a fan of celebrity talent shows – he was famously awarded the lowest ever score on Strictly Come Dancing and shuffled off the dance floor in the first round – but when it comes to our apparent apathy to petrol prices he has a point.

By yesterday the ITV show had received 2,000 complaints following an on-air spat between Dancing on Ice judge Jason Gardiner and skating coach Karen Barber. It’s the kind of public anger the petrol lobby wish they could muster, just like they did 11 years ago when fuel protests paralysed Britain for seven days.

It was September 2000 when convoys of lorries began their go slow through town and city centres and the impact was soon felt. Supermarket shelves stood empty, hospitals found it impossible to get vital supplies and with garages forced to ration what little fuel they had, queues of traffic snaked around forecourts. Back then petrol was 88p a litre.

“We seem to be suffering from short-term memory loss,” says Willson. “A decade ago, we drew a line in the sand at the prospect of fuel even approaching 90p a litre, but look where we are today. Petrol prices are soaring and yet we have all been slow off the mark at telling the Government the situation can’t continue.”

The protests in 2000 ended with the truckers delivering their own ultimatum to ministers: cut fuel duties within 60 days or they would once again bring the country to knees. The then-Chancellor Gordon Brown duly offered a few concessions to the protesters in that November’s budget. Fuel duty was frozen until 2002 and the price of ultra- low sulphur petrol was slashed by 3p a litre. It didn’t quite meet their demands, but as winter approached there was no appetite for a fresh fight and ever since campaigners have struggled to match those high profile protests.

Willson is not alone in wondering why, particularly when at the end of last month the average price of fuel in the UK broke new records, with diesel hitting 133.26p a litre and petrol soaring to an eye-watering 128.62p a litre.

For weeks now the AA has been encouraging its members to write to their MPs, but according to its own figures only seven per cent have even considered doing so and far fewer have actually put pen to paper.

“It’s a sad reflection of drivers’ political disenchantment that writing to the local parliamentary representative is so low down the list of responses to crippling pump prices,” says Edmund King, the AA’s president. “From past experience we know that a full post bag of protests can concentrate ministers’ minds, but motorists have become increasingly punch drunk with the continual battering from fuel duty increases and shocked at the cost of filling up.”

Yesterday Willson put his money where his mouth is by leading a delegation from FairFuelUk to the Treasury’s front door where they unfurled banners and handed in letters, one addressed personally to George Osborne. With April’s budget looming, the hope is the Chancellor can be persuaded to not only abandon a planned increase in fuel duty by 1p a litre, but also introduce a stabilising mechanism.

One of the most popular suggestions includes a method whereby when global oil prices increase, tax is reduced and when the cost drops, tax is increased. The fine detail will need to be worked out, but without some intervention by Westminster there are genuine fears companies already struggling could be pushed over the brink.

“Hauliers are already operating on wafer-thin margins and this has become a major national issue,” says Willson. “For many companies, diesel accounts for 40 per cent of their overall costs and that is simply unsustainable. In the last two years the huge price increases inflicted on the industry have led to the loss of thousands of jobs and forced many companies to the wall.

“We are just emerging from recession, yet the increasing cost of fuel is strangling the economy, stoking up inflation and really hurting businesses and the public. We are in the middle of a unique set of circumstances and we need someone to come up with an innovative solution. The Government needs to act boldly and rule out that April increase immediately to give the country confidence.

“If the Chancellor persists with the April duty rise, the irony is that any receipts it brings in will be wiped out by the fact that people will travel less and spend less.”

The FairFuelUk petition, which was also handed into Parliament yesterday, has attracted 65,000 signatures and with the ball now rolling, its supporters hope to keep the momentum going.

“The road freight industry is the sixth largest employer in this country and currently contributes more than £8bn in duty each year,” says Willson, who, unlike his Top Gear co-star is a known environmentalist. “The average EU duty on fuel is 31.5 per cent, but here in the UK it is 58 per cent. To me that doesn’t seem right. We are not asking for fuel duty to be scrapped, but what we are asking for is a temporary halt to any future rises so we all have time stock.

“The fact is the haulage industry is in every aspect of our lives by what it delivers to our businesses, schools, hospitals, factories and homes. Our food, drink, clothes and health care are dependent on trucks and lorries driving goods into our communities. Every increase in fuel duty, VAT and bulk oil costs impacts on prices of everything we buy.

“I am as concerned about the environment as the next man. I’ve had electric cars, but the truth is we are not geared up to alternative forms of transport and in the short-term this is about personal mobility.

“We are talking about people not be able to afford to get to work, people worried about how they will afford the petrol to get to hospital appointments. Fuel is not a luxury, it is a necessity.”

[email protected]