Welcome to Forecourt Fuels coverage of the 2012 Budget

Analysis and industry comments as the Budget unfolds on the 23rd of March.  We are paying particular attention for any tax changes that may impact on fleets and HGV companies.

Did you know we can save you a guaranteed 3 pence per litre on diesel pump prices when using one of our fuel cards?  

Visit www.forecourtfuels.co.uk for more information.

ACFO urges fleets to implement new initiatives to limit business disruption once the Olympics arrive in Britain this summer and ensure operating efficiency is maintained.

That was the message to almost 100 fleet decision-makers who attended a special Olympic Seminar hosted by ACFO and held at Ford of Britain’s Brentwood headquarters.

Advanced travel planning is vital with up to 800,000 spectators and 55,000 athletes, officials, organisers and members of the media travelling to and from the Olympic venues every day. The Government has said that the overall transport ambition is to reduce non-Olympic demand during the Games by 30%.

The Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) has released a report that claims that using smartphones while driving poses a greater risk than drink-driving.

The IAM partnered with the Transport Research Laboratory on the project, which saw a group of young drivers given a smartphone and asked to access social networking site Facebook while behind the wheel of the TRL’s DigiCar driving simulator.

As a result of the test, the IAM found that reaction times were slowed by around 38 per cent while key events during the simulation were often missed. Additionally, participants found themselves unable to maintain a central lane position, and were unable to respond as quickly to changes in speed by the car in front.

Another year flies by and as I write this, I imagine many of our customers have already closed their offices and are making a start on the festivities!

To those that read it in time, I’d like to take the opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a peaceful and prosperous New Year from all the staff here at Forecourt Fuels.

2011 was certainly a very exciting year for ourselves as we merged with two other fuel card companies “Fuel Card Solutions” back in July and then “RoadStar Services” in October, both of which I’m pleased to say went very smoothly and have enabled Forecourt Fuels to continue to grow and flourish.

We now have a new link on our site to a new Fuel Card Comparison site, Choose a Fuel Card allows businesses looking to find the Fuel Card best suited to their requirements by recommending products based on the visitor’s individual answers to questions such as which type of vehicles they run, whether they’re looking for fixed rate or pump priced fuel and the areas of the UK (or Europe) that their vehicles operate in.

Automotive bodies across the board have deemed Tuesday’s fuel duty debate an encouraging step towards some relief from suffocating fuel costs for struggling motorists and transport businesses.

The issue of fuel duty – which makes up 60% of prices at the pump – was granted discussion time in the House of Commons after an online petition secured more than 114,000 signatures as well as the support of 116 MPs.

A motion was passed without a vote and Geoff Dunning, Chief Exec of the Road Haulage Association, was impressed with the positive reaction from MPs on such a huge issue.

The UK’s first public Hydrogen fuel station has opened in Swindon!  The site is causing wide-spread speculation that this is the first step to making Hydrogen powered vehicles a more viable option that petrol or Diesel vehciles.

The station is located at Honda’s South Marston plant, and experts have already predicted that before long other car manufacturers will be following suit.

Hydrogen powered vehicles are pollution free, as the only emissions that would be produced are water!

Motorists have finally been given some good news today regarding fuel prices, in the 2011 Budget.

The news is welcomed by motorists as fuel prices have now reached new record highs, with diesel costing more than 140p a litre.

Chancellor George Osborne has finally confirmed that he will scrap the planned 1p rise in fuel duty which was meant to be introduced on 1^st April ; he surprised motorists by announcing a reduction of 1p a litre which will be effective as of 6pm today.

BBC Radio 5 Live has carried out research which has revealed clear evidence that fuel crime is on the up.

The report tells how in the last year countless hauliers have become victim to thousands of pounds worth of fuel crime. The survey was given to 6,000 firms out of which there were 150 respondents.

One incident saw over five thousand liters of diesel stolen from a fleet.

After weeks of petitioning to encourage the government to reverse their decision to increase fuel duty in April, Fair Fuel UK today handed in a document containing 120k names to Downing Street.

The group which was originally started by a haulage boss spent weeks gathering signatures to help prevent UK fuel prices increasing.

The group believes the number of names on the petition is a clear sign that the nation is really suffering as a result of fuel prices and for this reason the Government must do something about it.