Can anyone give me any insight into why diesel at my local has gone up 3p this week, thats like 12p a gallon, in one week!!!!!!! :2Mad
a BP in Worcester is selling at 133.9 a ltr
£1.36 a litre at our local BP.....they are taking the mick with the cold snap!
Everyone should go in and buy 2 litres...then pay using an Amex card! That would soon learn them!
Heating oil has gone from 40p a litre to over £1.30 a litre if you want it now! Bloody bonkers!!
Diesel is 123.9p in Derby at mo
Diesel is 123.9p in Derby at mo
i think in the last 3 weeks both petrol and diesel have jumped about 4p or so, sadly not a lot we can do.
Time to buy smaller engined cars that will do like 60mpg+ but no fun whatsoever
Quote from: SFW;733893a BP in Worcester is selling at 133.9 a ltr
This is mad as well, throughout the country the prices all vary ???? why ???
Whats the reason though, its going to leap another few p Jan 1st.
Don\'t get me started on Diesel prices, used to cost around £65 to fill up one of our Nissan Primastars (3 years ago) and now if we are unfortunate enough to need to stop at motorway services it\'s near as dammit £100. And the government reckons they are on the side of the small business, yeah righto.
What I\'d like to know, is the protests were occuring at 80p a litre, yet it\'s getting on for 60% more than that now...yet no one does anything!?
Quote from: CharlieP;733947What I\'d like to know, is the protests were occuring at 80p a litre, yet it\'s getting on for 60% more than that now...yet no one does anything!?
And the protests achieved the result of absolutely sweet fa, hence why people have given up. Just like student loan protests!
My sound believe now is the only effective protest against fuel costs is a mass "not buy", flood public transport etc and watch more chaos than the snow has caused! But try organising the country to do that!
Ive just been having a family chat about this topic.
There is no solution unless someone comes up with a viable solution to the loss of billions of £\'s of revenue and as fuel goes up and people are forced to buy more economical cars, they will have to keep putting it up to counter loss of sales. Its a viscous circle.
We get poorer and the Arab Emirates get richer!
We don\'t protest like the French-when they are upset EVERYONE knows about it!
Quote from: captainbizzaro;733956We don\'t protest like the French-when they are upset EVERYONE knows about it!
We cant protest like the French as we have laws to be able to stop us blockading etc The French dont.
aah right, darn.
I agree the price is getting too high and is about to get higher. Its like there is a conspiracy to get us to buy more economic cars by upping the road tax on older cars I suppose we as owners of 1300cc cars are fortunate with regards to tax but my wifes beetle has a £400 road tax potential hanging over it and the new Fiat 500 she likes is about £35 but I say to her its a con why sell a perfect little car just because you can save money on road tax. I run a Subaru SVX as my daily and over this Christmas period have put over £100 on V-Power in it, but we are all stuffed with this petrol price rip off because I\'ve only used the car for essential use I don\'t know anyone who just goes out for a drive these days. I can\'t see any solution to it other than to drop our trousers, close our eyes and take it!
Even the LPG prices have gone crazy. I saw a 10p rise in the space of a week for 60p to 70p a lt !!
Its supposed to be cleaner so they tax less but it has seen a huge raise in 3 yrs. When petrol was 80p gas was 33.5p, now its 70p a lt !
Its not the UAE fault, its the greedy traders driving the price up, then the greedy government slapping crazy amounts on. Labour saw it as an easy target for a stealth tax.
Trouble is it will go up by at least another 2.5% on Jan 4th with the VAT rise. Guy at garage was quoting a 5p rise over a month ago on Jan 4th !
Shaun
Completely agree, not the UAE\'s fault, but my statement is fact, they will get richer (as a country), we will get poorer!
I very much hope Cameroon honours one of his campaign pledges and they will cap the price of a litre of fuel.
So annoyed with the whole litre/gallon thing, there would have been absolute chaos if previous governments turned round and said, duty to rise by 9p a gallon, but sounds so much better when they say 2p a litre. It wouldnt surprise me if the main reason we went to litres from gallons was for this very reason.
Sadly as others have stated, there is sod all we can do about it.
I have even said to the wife that should i buy another performance car in the future it will most likely remain parked in the garage bar shows, and then buy something like a Punto to counter the fuel issue.
If fuel continues to rise i think in the future the performance car market will almost become non-existent as to get to a show will cost over £100 in fuel just for a day out and once you buy tickets you would be looking at perhaps £150 :Nono!
We currently have a 330CI BMW which averages about 26mpg but thankfully my work-home-gym is all within a 2 mile radius :god otherwise would be stuffed
So whats actually made the fuel more expensive? Is it the fuel itself or tax? Its tax then fairplay we\'re in a ridiculous amount of debt and there are far too many cars on the road. Taxing luxuries seems like a good idea to me.
Saying that, I hate it! How the hell am i going to afford to drive my car!!
Quote from: dthebuk;734022So whats actually made the fuel more expensive? Is it the fuel itself or tax? Its tax then fairplay we\'re in a ridiculous amount of debt and there are far too many cars on the road. Taxing luxuries seems like a good idea to me.
Saying that, I hate it! How the hell am i going to afford to drive my car!!
I cant remember a rise in fuel duty/tax, this is why i was curious too!
I would hardly describe a car/van a luxury however, i need my vehicle daily for work, unless of course you can suggest another way for me to transport my tools to a building site?
Quote from: shaunwil;734014Even the LPG prices have gone crazy. I saw a 10p rise in the space of a week for 60p to 70p a lt !!
Its supposed to be cleaner so they tax less but it has seen a huge raise in 3 yrs. When petrol was 80p gas was 33.5p, now its 70p a lt !
Its not the UAE fault, its the greedy traders driving the price up, then the greedy government slapping crazy amounts on. Labour saw it as an easy target for a stealth tax.
Trouble is it will go up by at least another 2.5% on Jan 4th with the VAT rise. Guy at garage was quoting a 5p rise over a month ago on Jan 4th !
Shaun
I agree on the LPG front because I bought an LPG van thinking it was a good idea but the price of that now is far too high. There is an argument for new vehicles I\'ve recently replaced a Transit with a new Trafic same size etc and the Trafic does 39 mpg as opposed to the Transits 22-25 but the Transit was only replaced due to age/wear not because I thought \'oh I\'ll save a few bob on fuel and spend thousands on a new van\' road tax is no different though. As we have all said and think most people do not just go out for a drive because of the cost of fuel so reducing our consumption as a protest would probably result in SORN\'ing the cars for 6 months.
Quote from: jetpilot;734023I cant remember a rise in fuel duty/tax, this is why i was curious too!
I would hardly describe a car/van a luxury however, i need my vehicle daily for work, unless of course you can suggest another way for me to transport my tools to a building site?
how was it done before cars and vans were widespread? Maybe for vans its slightly different but personal transport i still see as a luxury. The problem is that people have become dependant on something that may not last, or they may not be able to afford in the future. Just look at how many people compute to work on their own in a car. Its rediculous, you dont need to be accelerating that much weight just to get from A to B. If people car pooled it could save money, or maybe somone needs to come up with a single seater.
Hell theres just too many people in the world. bah humbug!!!
Ok, would love to see you transport the tools, equipment or materials i need to do my job, what do suggest, horse and cart, bicycle and trailer?
Quote from: jetpilot;734043Ok, would love to see you transport the tools, equipment or materials i need to do my job, what do suggest, horse and cart, bicycle and trailer?
lol my boss be on the phone, yelling why have i stopped(our vans have trackers) i\'\'ll have to tell him the horse needed feeding
The irony is it would probably cost more to run a horse and cart, have you seen the price of those things, stabling, vets bills/insurance, farrier, feed and the amount of time you need to run one.
Still its missing the point, the less we use our cars, the more the duty will go up to cover lost revenue. I realistically think i budget my fuel now, even if 100k people do a £10 less a week, thats a million down a week!!!
Shire Horses just don\'t yank my crank I\'m afraid. Plus they don\'t have roof bars.
News this morning says US Crude oil is at its most expensive for 26 months at just under $92 a barrel.
So i guess we should expect more rises. Wasnt it cheaper when it was over $100 a barrel !!!!
I was in Florida recently, the the price had barely increased over the past few years, the only time it changes, is when the price of oil genuinely goes up! And that is by a few cents per gallon....not pence per litre!
Unfortunately, motorists are an easy target, and the government gain supporters from eco-hippies by shouting Global Warming!
Quote from: jetpilot;734043Ok, would love to see you transport the tools, equipment or materials i need to do my job, what do suggest, horse and cart, bicycle and trailer?
well thats the point. I wouldn\'t, I\'d keep them close to where I need them as transportation would cost a shed load. Thus the ability to slap some tools in a van and drive halfway across the country is a luxury.
Quote from: dthebuk;734112well thats the point. I wouldn\'t, I\'d keep them close to where I need them as transportation would cost a shed load. Thus the ability to slap some tools in a van and drive halfway across the country is a luxury.
So going to work is a luxury?
I personally blame the Eco warrior/tree hugging hippy POS protestors and supporters for the rises in fuel duty and road tax situation. Ever since some flower power vegan freak started spouting about global warming everything thats burns has been taxed through the roof.
The comical thing is now that instead of us all boiling to death the same lying money grabbing eco chancers are now being employed yet again by the gullible government for calculating whether these terrible winters are gonna continue.
I for one will not believe what pish they spout out as i never have!!!!.
Global bloody warming, Pull the other one and have a look outside. Even the bleeding polar bears are wearing NorthFace fleeces.
Quote from: jetpilot;734132So going to work is a luxury?
No, you\'ve missed the point completely
Quote from: dthebuk;734112Thus the ability to slap some tools in a van and drive halfway across the country is a luxury
No, its a necessity to earn a living.
Unless you have a viable option, which i would love to hear!
I completely agree however, that my car and my jet ski are luxuries and i have no issue with fuelling these as its the reason i go to work! There is no need for me to drive either but the pleasure they bring is worth the cost, at the moment!
However, and its not just me, some people are reliant for vehicles to earn a living! I do not have the ease of use of working 9 - 5 in a town centre where the most i need is maybe a laptop. So i have no bus routes, train lines but please, i would love to hear your alternatives?
Plus not everybody has the luxury of having work actually close to them. The money I earn doesn\'t enable me to live any closer to my place of work. I have to commute
Shaun
When we do work in London some of the lads we know tube it to work everyday and carry what they can in a rucksack but generally get stuck as there is only so much you can fit in a rucksack and limitations to what you can take on a bus! Therefore we just have to take one for the team and take the van into the city centre and pay up to £5-£6 an hour parking as that van is one of our tools and is indispensable, there is absolutely no way we could operate as a business without depending on them, thats just the way it is. So the only choice we have is to pay up, whether it\'s to Boris, the Government or Westminster Borough council (closely pipping Camden in the Nazi stakes) we just get shafted left and right.
Quote from: captainbizzaro;734179When we do work in London some of the lads we know tube it to work everyday and carry what they can in a rucksack but generally get stuck as there is only so much you can fit in a rucksack and limitations to what you can take on a bus! Therefore we just have to take one for the team and take the van into the city centre and pay up to £5-£6 an hour parking as that van is one of our tools and is indispensable, there is absolutely no way we could operate as a business without depending on them, thats just the way it is. So the only choice we have is to pay up, whether it\'s to Boris, the Government or Westminster Borough council (closely pipping Camden in the Nazi stakes) we just get shafted left and right.
Thats another very good point about people like us who have to use vans etc to transport our equipment and material around the country and London in particular for even more shafting of tradesmen/specialists with the congestion charge which has the effect of blocking all roads around it. The first thing I ask potential clients is is it in the rip off zone sorry I meant Congestion Zone and if they say yes I say sorry I\'m not interested recently I turned down a very nice project on the new visitors centre at the house of expense scandals, the architect could not believe me when I said the journey in and around this site was more trouble than I was prepared to put myself through. There is no answer to these issues because if you put prices up to compensate someone else will undercut you.
So in a fuel days, Diesel in my area will go up another 2.6p per litre!
I understand the need for the Vat increase, i understand the need for fuel duty, the money has to come from somewhere.
However, i dont think the system is fair. Why do we pay Vat on the duty, thats just wrong. The duty should be a separate entity irrespective of Vat. I dont think it will be long before there is uproar again and the gov need to act quick and uphold their cap on fuel duty/prices.
Imho it will start stiffeling the country. Prices on literally everything will rise to compensate.
We\'ve just got to the point now that any job over a couple of days in London isn\'t worth travelling it\'s easier and less stressful/boring to get a good ol\' Premier Inn and be done with it.
Back to the question in point, the line from the oil companies is that many years back, when building the refineries, Petrol was seen as the fuel of the future leaving Diesel to remain as the fuel of workforce (agriculture etc).
As such, money was pumped into building more Petrol refineries (expected demand to increase greater than Diesel).
With the demand for Diesel cars increasing over the last decades being so much more than ever predicted, there are thus less refineries refining Diesel.
Price is based on supply/demand. Lower supply with higher demand = Diesel cost rising quicker than Petrol.
I\'m not justifying the cost of fuel mind (I\'m kinda against punishing the commuter since this country has moved from local jobs to a global economy requiring people to be moveable) but I agree as a luxury it should be taxed. Not sure how that would work mind with pricing (pay less tax for transport/commuting fuel but more for visiting the parents/going on hols), and hence the government leaves it as is, a luxury tax for a non-necesary means of transport.
But how come diesel is cheaper than petrol in many European countries, france a prime example
Quote from: Aceman;734380Back to the question in point, the line from the oil companies is that many years back, when building the refineries, Petrol was seen as the fuel of the future leaving Diesel to remain as the fuel of workforce (agriculture etc).
As such, money was pumped into building more Petrol refineries (expected demand to increase greater than Diesel).
With the demand for Diesel cars increasing over the last decades being so much more than ever predicted, there are thus less refineries refining Diesel.
Price is based on supply/demand. Lower supply with higher demand = Diesel cost rising quicker than Petrol.
I\'m not justifying the cost of fuel mind (I\'m kinda against punishing the commuter since this country has moved from local jobs to a global economy requiring people to be moveable) but I agree as a luxury it should be taxed. Not sure how that would work mind with pricing (pay less tax for transport/commuting fuel but more for visiting the parents/going on hols), and hence the government leaves it as is, a luxury tax for a non-necesary means of transport.
Much as i understand the logic behind that, it sounds like government spin for, more people use diesel so lets increase the tax. I seem to remember diesel being much cheaper than petrol but as soon as people started using diesel vehicles, the tax went up. In the same vein, wheres the logic in lpg tax?
I guess this time we cant blame the gov for increased costs!
So guys, where is the answer, where could the gov cut huge costs thus not reliant on heavy duty and tax on fuel, the money has to come from somewhere.
My personal thoughts:
Social Services and Prisons. The programmes i have recently seen about prison life is in my eyes. nothing like the punishment it should be! Far too many luxuries and an easy stay, maybe thats why we have so many re offenders as prison is just to cushy!
Quote from: jetpilot;734386Much as i understand the logic behind that, it sounds like government spin for, more people use diesel so lets increase the tax. I seem to remember diesel being much cheaper than petrol but as soon as people started using diesel vehicles, the tax went up. In the same vein, wheres the logic in lpg tax?
I guess this time we cant blame the gov for increased costs!
So guys, where is the answer, where could the gov cut huge costs thus not reliant on heavy duty and tax on fuel, the money has to come from somewhere.
My personal thoughts:
Social Services and Prisons. The programmes i have recently seen about prison life is in my eyes. nothing like the punishment it should be! Far too many luxuries and an easy stay, maybe thats why we have so many re offenders as prison is just to cushy!
I was only relating to costs sorry, not the tax etc. But with VAT being a percentage of costs, then yes, a rise in Diesel costs larger than a rise in Petrol costs will produce a higher VAT on Diesel.
Historically, Diesel was taxed (higher duty) more than Petrol, but from 1 October 2007, these were equalised. Not sure what 2010 prices are, but 2009 duty was 56.19p for both Diesel and Unleaded. LPG was 27.67p per litre duty (1p rise in April and another in October so it\'s around 58.19p a litre duty now)..
As for where else to crimp money, well, that\'s another discussion.....
But if there was a supply issue wouldn\'t petrol stations actually run out of diesel more often ? When was the last time you saw this ?
Shaun
Quote from: shaunwil;734393But if there was a supply issue wouldn\'t petrol stations actually run out of diesel more often ? When was the last time you saw this ?
Shaun
They can produce it, so do. Just costs more to do so.
A simplistic example, if they need to run the refineries longer to produce the same amount as demand, they have increased staff costs (longer staff hours = more overtime), so sell it for more to cover this.
If the demand was not there, they would reduce the running times, so less staff costs as they only need pay normal wage (not time and a half overtime or whatever they pay).
Economies of scale kick in with long term demand, so increase isn\'t as great as it otherwise could be (and can be neglible), but does cost more to produce.
Make sense?
Another example could be UK refineries are not able to meet demand, so they have to import it. Importing costs more (transport costs etc) and so they have to sell it for more to meet this extra cost.
(possibly not great examples, but trying to show simplistic reasons why cost to produce to meet more demand makes product more expensive)
It does but there is one thing eating at me. Surely the process is a 24/7 operation. Surely the refining stack can\'t be easily turned off. Since the demand has been quite high for a while how much of the cost is in enabling the correct cost effective supply ?
It\'s scarey to think the refiners and garages are probably making the least out of the whole chain of companies. Bet hedge funds make more money.
Shaun
Just done a little reading.
October 2007 a barrel of oil was just over $90, petrol price £.95, diesel £1.03
So, almost exactly the same price as a barrel of oil now, yet petrol is £1.25, diesel £1.30
Somehow this just makes the prices today even more farcical. It looks like duty has gone up roughly 10p in that time.
Quote from: shaunwil;734401It does but there is one thing eating at me. Surely the process is a 24/7 operation. Surely the refining stack can\'t be easily turned off. Since the demand has been quite high for a while how much of the cost is in enabling the correct cost effective supply ?
It\'s scarey to think the refiners and garages are probably making the least out of the whole chain of companies. Bet hedge funds make more money.
Shaun
I live in Poole and Bp have the Wytch Farm oil field which has been running a very long time now, although they are scaling down. The oil is pumped direct to Fawley, during the peak time some 25,000 barrels a day, a day...............
BP have got an oil slick to pay for!
I think the bald truth of it is that the government/oil companies charge what they can get away with. There\'s no sense, justification or ecobabble behind it, they simply rape the living fduk out of the motorist BECAUSE THEY CAN! What choice do we as motorists have? Thatcher\'s desecration of the coutry\'s ability to work and manufacture created a generation who have to travel to find/do work, and then successive governments have gleefully kicked that generation right in the boIIocks for doing it. What choice? None. Public transport cant cope with the passenger numbers it currently supports, let alone if everyone else were to leave the car at home. How does a tradesman carry all his tools to a worksite? Train, then bus or pushbike with tens of kilos of tools? How do travelling midwives, bankers, insurance consultants, travel agents, window fitters, carpetlayers, and all the other hundreds of trades who rely on transport to cover the patch they service get about? A patch, by the way, that what with cutbacks and redrawing of administration boundaries and so on and so on with the current economic climate that gets larger and larger all the time (for the same pay and hours, of course!).
It\'s not just the working classes who are forced onto the road either, the traditionally loved middle classes of the Tory heartland are feeling what it\'s like to be a cash cow now as well. We live in a culture that has made it impossible for many families to survive on a single wage, so both parents are working and the people they then have to rely on all have to travel; the supermarket delivery service bacuse they don\'t have time to shop, the school bus because they\'re at work longer than the school hours and cant take little Johnny to school themselves, the cleaner because they\'re too knackered when they finish their twelve hour day to do the hoovering, etc etc. They made us into a nomadic nation, all whizzing around in our personal transport like sharks sniffing for the first hint of fresh blood in the water that signals life-giving work...and the bosses and corporate fatcats sat back and rubbed their hands with glee and kept pressing the button that\'s marked "Fuel price increase" because they know we have no damn choice but to pay it.
And then they tell me I can save the world by buying a Toyota Prius!? There are, in the immortal doctrine of CRASS, no words for my contempt.....
I would argue that the desecration of manufacturing is a combination of the Union\'s unrealistic demands and poor working practises and Thatcherite desire for the nation\'s economy not to be slave to the demands of the Trade Unions.
The current cost is caused by the weaker pound. The government has pumped money into the money markets and destroyed the value of the pound. Great if we still had a strong manufacturing element to our economy and strong exports.
Yes the trade unions where too powerful and we ruined huge sways of manfacturing, but it is almost gone apart from more quality and hi-tec development. But how long before the government sells these thing down the river.
Shaun
Here is a thing i never get with regard to british industry/business.
Granite worktops as an example, granite is now sent to China to be worked on as its cheaper. That means, put on a ship, sent to china, worked on and shipped back.....and that works out cheaper than someone doing it here!!
I see the constant rise in fuel also impacting heavily on industry.
I heard last night on springwatch the gov is currently investigating whether to sell of parts off forest commission land for development, hardly green, which is why i hate the whole, taxing fuel because of the green debate!
Yeah, the eco shlt is only ever a smokescreen and a feeble justification for more taxes. Tax, any tax is simply the highest they think they can get away with pure and simple, but sometimes they put a cherry on top of the turd pie to make it look pretty and make it easier for people to swallow. It used to be cheaper to buy a Triumph motorcycle in America and import it, paying all the import and registration duties than it was to buy it at a dealership in Leicestershire where the bike was built. Again, how is it possible to justify that sort of lunacy? They don\'t even try nowadays, they have the built-in excuse for all ridiculous taxes by just trotting out the recession-recovery mantra
A number of my friends who run/own large engineering firms all say the same thing the work is going out to China and there is no support to keep the work here so you are very much on your own and its not suprising. Until recently I have been having made a composite lining material for my business from the E.U. and have been paying over £200 for a roll for this material having been approached by a Chinese company to make this, I thought as many others do/did that it will be a cheap, badly produced fact simarly but to my total amazement they have produced a product for 1/3 the cost yes thats 1/3 the cost and its a higher spec. I have no doubt that the unions in the seventies started the decline but the main problem in my opinion is the wave of rubbish Health and Safety requirements dreampt up by people in the E.U. with nothing better to do other than think up ways of obstructing and increasing the cost of production in this country but as we have all concluded the price of fuel is just adding to all manufacturing and transport costs so its going to go to China I still can\'t believe how cheap it is to ship goods from China so there must be a cost to pay further down the line.
If you were a cynical person you might think that all our work will go to China we lose all our manufacturing expertise and close down for business relying solely on China, then bang they quadrurple the price and take over the world. Just heard on the news that China are stopping the export of some mineral used in Prius type vehicle batteries so there is some positive side to all news.
The biggest problem we are seeing that our management wants stuff to be made in china. They don\'t seem to think about the time it is sat on a ship, the time it takes if something is wrong.
Plus all the replacement stuff we are buying (plastic parts with simple electronics) has major faults in the preproduction stuff. They wont fix it when they ship a container load.
There are a lot of companies moving back because of all the hassle with China, but eastern Europe not the UK.
Don\'t think we will get out of this mess now regardless what the government does. Which is a real shame.
Shaun
I remember very well the whole price issue when it came to bikes Mr Greek, grey imports flooding in from all over and as you mention, the fact you could buy a british built bike cheaper when it was a grey import even though it had been exported and then imported.
And the british bike dealers answer, you have been prepared to pay the uk delaer prices so why sell them for less, supply and demand! So the same goes for fuel, they know we are prepared to pay, hence the price is what it is!
I also agree the whole EU rubbish is really something we need to get away from, within the building industry there are new rules and regs we have to meet almost daily, the same as any other eu country, the big difference is though, go to spain say, they have the same rules and regs but quite frankly, no one gives a sh*t or adheres to them, its only here where we follow everything to the letter and have people employed to make sure we apply the rules to the letter, which just costs more and more money. They want cheap social housing, but it just cant be done anymore, building is a minefield these days, especially with this energy efficiency we have to go on.
I guess whats costing this country the most at the moment is the amount of wars we have been and are in, this must be adding to our debt daily.
I like the attitude towards building in Greece...a new build is ony taxed when it\'s complete, which is why they all submit planning for a three-storey house then build only two. That\'s why you see all those concrete half-finished houses with re-bar sticking out the roofs, so they can claim they\'re not finished yet and dodge the tax. Only works if you don\'t mind living in a really crap-looking house though, I suppose!
The cost of the armed conflict we\'re not involved in is borne by the MOD within standard operating budgets. It\'s why we\'re loosing ships and aircraft.
Seems there are some petitions doing the rounds and groups requesting people dont buy fuel Fridays and Saturdays, trouble is with that, everyone will just buy Thursday to get through Friday and Saturday. The key is to not actually use your car! I have always wondered at the slow driving protests, although inconvenient, they are using fuel!!! A bit ironic really!!
I would say the best attack would be, just for one day everyone try to get to work on public transport and watch the country grind to a halt, literally everything, industry, banks etc etc
I truly think the gov would take notice then and in this day and age of facebook, twitter, forums, media etc, would it really be that hard to achieve. Make the day a month in advance, give people, the gov, petrol companies, business etc fair warning and see what happens!