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Fuel warning over plant shutdown
mangogrooveworkshop - 19/4/08 at 02:16 PM

Is this not the time to start thinking bio...
Filled the smart up this morning £21.50 less than two years ago it cost £16.00. And thats with a small tank....what does it cost to run a big car now.
Now somewhere in the works one refinery comes out on strike and the whole system falters. 65p in tax for every litre and the rest of the hidden tax on the company making it.
browns to greedy





BBC NEWS
Fuel warning over plant shutdown

The management of Scotland's only crude oil refinery have started shutting it down after claiming a strike later this month will compromise safety.

Ineos said its refinery at Grangemouth would be closed for "at least a month", and warned the country to expect major fuel shortages.

About 1,200 members of the Unite union are to strike on 27 and 28 April in a dispute over pensions.

Unite said the changes Ineos wanted to make to pensions were "unreasonable".

Ineos said in a statement that it had taken the decision to start shutting down the Grangemouth facility on safety grounds.

It is important that the plant is not only shut down safely but also remains safe through the strike period
Ineos statement

The statement added: "Fuel shortages are likely to begin in Scotland as early as Friday 25 April, and the whole of Scotland could be without fuel for at least a month.

"It is important that the plant is not only shut down safely but also remains safe through the strike period and this process can take many days."

The first stage of the closure began on Friday night, with the first plant on the site due to shut completely on Monday.

The remaining plants would be taken offline in a phased shutdown which would be completed by Friday.

The statement said that the action would also effectively shut down much of the North Sea's oil and gas production, a large proportion of which goes through Grangemouth, causing supplies to dry up and leading to shortages across Scotland and the north of England.

Tom Crotty, CEO of Ineos Olefins, said: "The union is well aware that a 48-hour strike will cause fuel chaos in Scotland and the north of England for weeks on end.

"This is a huge oil refinery and they know you can't just turn it on and off like a tap. A month is our best guess but safety considerations will be at the forefront of everything we do.

"They have deliberately chosen a course of action that is the minimum pain for them, but which will inflict the maximum pain on Scotland and the whole UK."

Hundreds of jobs

Mr Crotty described the union's claim that the refinery made £3m a day as "nonsense", and said Ineos needed to invest £750m into the site.

He claimed that the strike threatened that investment, as well as hundreds of jobs, and would damage the UK economy.

Phil McNulty, national officer of Unite, insisted that the company was profitable and the pension scheme was well-funded and affordable.

The union has previously said that Ineos is planning to close the final salary pension scheme after taking £40m from it and slashing its own contributions.

Mr McNulty added: "The changes to the scheme Ineos are proposing are unreasonable, unnecessary and have forced our members at Grangemouth to take industrial action for the first time."
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/scotland/tayside_and_central/7356235.stm

Published: 2008/04/19 13:20:55 GMT

© BBC MMVIII


blakep82 - 19/4/08 at 02:27 PM

lol, great...


alistairolsen - 19/4/08 at 02:33 PM

ONe half of me wants to go and fill everything I have, the other half says thats exactly what they want, and I can do without for a month


big_wasa - 19/4/08 at 02:47 PM

I filled my bike yesterday that I sometimes use for work.

£14


McLannahan - 19/4/08 at 02:56 PM

My last fillup on my Passat was a nice 73.50!

Lovely. I fill up nearly twice a week too.


zilspeed - 19/4/08 at 03:02 PM

There's never a queue at the LPG pump.....

(Yes, I know, I'm not exempt either, but I won't tell lies and say it wasn't a very small reason behind choosing to go LPG.)


graememk - 19/4/08 at 04:47 PM

i've been thinking about getting a bioderv tank at home to be honest


trifield - 19/4/08 at 05:00 PM

Am booked to go up to Fort William on 1st May for the Pre 65 and Scottish Six Days Trial.
Hope there is no fuel shortages as organisers might threaten to cancel the competitions.
There again might be fuel available to get up there but none available to get back home!

Remember when the fuel strikes were called before, I was working in Inverness and really struggled to find any stations that had fuel all through East Coast of Scotland and back into the North East..


smart51 - 19/4/08 at 06:03 PM

Their claim that Scotland will be without fuel for a month is nonsense. The Government will step in before chaos takes hold.

Without knowing what the grievance of the workers is, and assuming that it is genuine, the think that I dislike about unions so much is that they're quite willing to cause as many people trouble as they can, even if they're not related to the parties involved. I accept that unions are a necessary evil, but only to55ers would knowingly putting Scotland out of fuel for a month. Hit the company not everyone else.


speedyxjs - 19/4/08 at 06:18 PM

Anyone who saw my post the other day would probably agree that THIS is the time to have a 240 litre tank
My tintop fill up last week - £83 but i only fill up every month or so.


Simon - 19/4/08 at 06:37 PM

My last fillup was £86.50.

Glad to know my money is going to good causes.

Simon


Triton - 19/4/08 at 09:47 PM

Cheapest fuel nr me is £105 a ltr denzil is £114 how does that compare North of the border they call the Taymar?


RK - 19/4/08 at 10:12 PM

You can blame the oil companies. They're the ones that jack everything up whenever they feel a bit skint (as you might say). In Canada, (where it's very cheap compared to Europe), the fuel prices in Alberta where they dig the stuff up regularly, and they have no provincial sales tax, are not much different to everywhere else in Canada. Guess who makes all the extra profit?

That said, I think you pay way too much tax for that kind of thing in the UK. But governments are addicted to revenues, whether it's from casinos or oil.


Triton - 19/4/08 at 10:27 PM

waking up in the morning tax soon unless it's already there under a different name...

RK expect a pressie next week matey...

Mark


skodaman - 20/4/08 at 01:23 AM

'Their claim that Scotland will be without fuel for a month is nonsense. The Government will step in before chaos takes hold.'

Don't u mean the government will step in and then chaos will take hold.


dmottaway - 20/4/08 at 04:55 AM

I am glad I don't pay what you do for fuel! It costs me "only" $55US to fill my truck, but I did it 3 times today!

Dave


darrens - 20/4/08 at 08:41 AM

£98 to fill van up other morning


mangogrooveworkshop - 20/4/08 at 11:50 AM

Once it crossed the pound a litre it seemed to shoot up every week since....


DIY Si - 20/4/08 at 11:56 AM

Soooo glad I have a works fuel card! I put about £120 a week in my works van, and there's no way I could afford that.


woodster - 21/4/08 at 09:27 AM

quote:
Originally posted by DIY Si
Soooo glad I have a works fuel card! I put about £120 a week in my works van, and there's no way I could afford that.


Ihave a company van and fuel card i use to be able to get £50 in it if i tried hard ... last fill up £73 ........ it must be hitting companys hard .... when and where will it end £7 £8 £ 9 £10 a gallon the skys the limit it goes up never comes down ........ flucking Gordon Clown


iank - 21/4/08 at 09:58 AM

Went past a garage on the A1 this morning with Diesel at 122.9 paid 114.9 at the local garage this morning, which itself is up 2p on the week before.


Mr Whippy - 21/4/08 at 11:23 AM

he he a month costs me £12 on my motor bike


woodster - 21/4/08 at 12:03 PM

can anyone beat 123p alitre of diesel

http://www.petrolprices.com/

[Edited on 21/4/08 by woodster]