Ever put the wrong type of fuel in your tank?

Nope, me neither.

But apparently, lots of people do.

If you are going to do it, it is slightly less worse to put diesel in a petrol tank than petrol in a diesel tank.

But try not to do either.

Especially if you are a tanker driver.

Melbourne Fuel Station Shuts After Diesel Tank Filled With Unleaded Petrol

You'd think they'd have different coloured nozzles or something.

April Fuel

Found myself reading this Car+Driver article today about this man:

His name is Nygârd Lünd.He is a giant, Norwegian-born, billionaire who grows apricots and orchids and wants to re-invent the car.

Or would be if he existed.

It is a brilliantly written article, definitely worth a click.  I didn't initially think it was an April Fool joke because, well - it isn't April yet.

But the clues are there.

Like, "From the April 2016 issue" and, when discussing the neighbourhood where all the research goes on, “It doesn’t even show up on Google Maps.”

And the fact that as you read on, it becomes less and less plausible.

This guy is supposed to have developed a fuel derived from using apricots in elctrolysis to generate power.

An "Apricot Fuel" as it were.

That's Mazda Price!

No it isn't.  This Post has nothing to do with Mazda (or Asda) for that matter - but it does have a bit to do with Asda rivals Tesco.

And several news stories from the past two days.

I've just filled up my car with petrol.  At Tescos.  I was particularly amazed (you'll be amazed at a Mazda) because the receipt printer at the self-serve pump was actually working.  This is the first time in approximately 12 months that the receipt printers have been working - what is the point of having self-serve pumps if you have to go into the kiosk to get a receipt?

I was also amazed at the price - for the first time on yonks, I paid under £1 a litre:

This is down to two factors:

Factor 1 is the 12p a litre off thanks to Tesco Clubcard Fuelsave (more about that shortly)  Things are obviously looking up for Tesco - thanks to people like me, their Christmas takings were better than expected and they've got their pump receipt printers sorted.

Factor 2 is that the cost of Brent Crude has dipped below $50 a barrel.  The BBC have that covered here.  Basically, America and the Middle East are all over-producing their oil so the price is tumbling.  Middle Eastern countries such as Saudi Arabia & Iraq but not so much Jordan.

Jordan - not to be confused with the bimbo who calls herself Jordan or the BTCC Driver (and former champion) Andrew Jordan.  Now he is in the news because he has just joined the MG Triple-Eight Team.  He will be taking the place vacated by Jason Plato who is "considering other options" - that story is covered by Autosport.  I hope Jason stays with the BTCC - he clearly wants to and he hints at involvement of another manufacturer team - I wonder if he'll take his main sponsor with him  - now who was that? - oh yes, Tesco Clubcard Fuelsave - the scheme  whereby you get money off fuel if you spend lots in the store.

I believe I covered that before it even started.  And I added at the end of that article a couple of puns that were very funny - including "That's Mazda Price!"

Because it sounds like "That's Asda Price"

OK, I'll get my coat.

Petrol Prices Going up Again

I've just filled up my car at 107.9p a litre at my local Shell station. That seems to be a good price - Tescos are asking 111.9p at the moment and I have seen higher.

I don't live too far from the main refinery at Stanlow so that may help but when I visit my in-laws out Manchester way (or is it my out-laws in Manchester way?) I see the prices tend to be about 4p a litre dearer than home.

I'm sure that prices must be at the level they were a year or two back when we had fuel protests and blockades and everyone drove at 60mph on the Motorways to conserve fuel. This time around, I guess there is less fuss because of a combination of the recession and newer cars are actually getting significantly more fuel-efficient. Nobody wants to rock the boat and fewer miles are being travelled enyway.

Here's a graph I stole from moneyweek.com showing oil prices:

It seems to show a sharp dip before Christmas, then a staggering rise and now it should be on its way down again. I'm not sure how precisely petrol prices relate to the raw crude price nor how long this takes effect but I wouldn't be expecting the price hike we are seeing at the moment.

Obviously, a large chunk of fuel costs goes to the Exchequer, maybe being an Election-year, there may be some hope of Alistair trying to win over the motorist but whatever happens, I'm sure post May 6th (if the rumours are true) everything would revert to screwing the petrol-head. I can't see it being any different under the Tories either - remember it was them that introduced the fuel price escalator which Labour made slightly worse but were then forced to scrap.
(I don't like quoting wiki but that is much as I remember it)

Every year or so, an email gets circulated saying how we can beat the Oil Companies by refusing to buy from two of the main suppliers - it's always some combination of Esso, Shell and BP thus forcing them to drop their prices. It'll never work for two reasons:

i) The email was probably started by one of those sad people who just tries to get their emails forwarded to as many people as possible, the chance of everyone getting the same version at the same time is pretty remote.

ii) The British public are too ambivalent to bother anyway. There was a national, well-organised and well-publicised call for everyone to refuse to buy any petrol on one particular Friday around the time of the big fuel-protests at the turn of the Century. This was a tactic that worked with a degree of success in the States causing big problems for the fuel distribution networks and having a significant impact on the Oil Companies over there. It would have been no big deal for British people to fill up on the Thursday or Saturday instead but they didn't do it.

The only way to try to keep fuel prices at a sensible level is to always shop around. To help, I use this site which, although it can be a few days out of date, is generally pretty reliable.