Budget 2010 : Fuel duty - the facts

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By Adrian Tink, RAC Motoring Strategist on 24 March 2010 at 13:15

Fuel Duty to rise three times in the next 10 months....

That is a fact.

By this time next year fuel duty will have risen by 3p. At that point we will each be paying just over 59p per litre in fuel duty. That's another fact.

Now I know that's not how the Chancellor put it, and it is absolutely true the Government could have lumped 1p plus inflation (about 3p) on straight away. That is also a welcome fact.

So some will be of the opinion that motorists have received a good deal. That, for me, is more akin to fiction.

At a time when the average price at the pumps is seemingly on a never ending march towards the record highs of 120p per litre, how can any tax rise be a good deal?

The Government aren't solely to blame for the price at the pumps. There are factors such as the exchange rate and the wholesale price of oil which are beyond their sphere of influence - pertinent facts one and all.

But whichever way you put it - this is the 4th rise in fuel duty in just over 15 months. For the average motorist, who's watching the numbers on the petrol pump rack up like a pinball machine score, this is the hardest fact to swallow of all.