Paying for a lack of choice

With fuel-price inflation rife, the cost of motoring hits particularly hard those disabled people who have no choice but to own and drive a car. So does Helen Dolphin find any comfort from recent budget announcements

Like many disabled people my car is my main form of transport. It is difficult for me to use public transport independently and even if I wanted to come to work by bus there is no bus route. Trains don’t fare much better as my nearest railway station has lots of steps and no lift.

Because I use my car a lot I decided when I got my latest Motability vehicle that I would get the smallest car possible that would carry me, my wheelchair and my assistance dog. It is not as easy for me to get in and out as the MPVs I’ve had previously but it’s my way of saving money on fuel. This is now a decision I’m glad I made as it seems every time I drive past the petrol station at the end of my road the price of fuel has gone up. Sometimes it increases between my going to work and coming home. It doesn’t seem that long ago that I was bemoaning the fact that the price of a litre had gone over a £1. Now I’m wishing it was only a pound instead of the £1.39 per litre I paid recently for my diesel.

When George Osborne announced this year’s budget the only part that really interested me was the price of fuel. I think some months I now spend more on fuel for my car than anything else. I was therefore pleased to hear that fuel duty would be cut by 1p a litre and the planned rise which would have added around 5p to the cost of a litre of fuel has been delayed.

It was also announced that the fuel duty escalator that adds an extra penny on top of inflation every year will be cancelled. Instead a “fair fuel stabiliser” is to be introduced and this will be funded by an increased levy on oil and gas production.

At present, roughly 60 per cent of the price we pay at the pumps is tax. In the future, fuel duty will increase in line with the Retail Price Index (RPI) measure of inflation when oil prices are high. But in years when crude falls below a set trigger price for a sustained period, the Government will increase fuel duty by RPI plus 1p per litre.

This all sounded like good news but will it mean cheaper fuel? RAC motoring strategist Adrian Tink said: “The fair fuel stabiliser will mean in the short term an end to the above inflationary (extra penny) part of fuel duty increases – that’s the good news. The bad news is that drivers will still be hit with a delayed 3p per litre inflationary rise in January and the prices at the pumps will still be at the mercy of oil prices and energy companies.”

With fuel companies quick to blame the wake of political unrest in the Middle East and North Africa for the sharp increase in global crude oil prices we could still be looking at soaring fuel prices. This is not good news for those of us who have no choice but to use our cars and some concession still needs to be made for disabled motorists.