...If you've got an up-to-date TOM TOM, then that should not be an issue ;o}

It's all very well people saying they have a 'perception'that they are being 'ripped off', what they don't say is what they base their perception on. half the time it seems to me that it's simply a reaction against the selling price - "I don't like paying these prices, so I'll say I'm being ripped off,despite the fact that I don't have a clue about the market factors involved."

The OFT report seems to be saying that the blame for higher pump prices should be aimed at the government, because a hefty slice of the selling price of a litre of petrol is tax.

Over half the cost of petrol at the pumps is tax, something that the oil companies have no control over. A third is the actual petrol, including its production costs, and something between 1% and 4% goes to the retailer.

The production cost - the actual refining process - is pretty efficient, and cost-effective, it represents a very small percentage of the total.

The big money as far as the oil companies are concerned goes in finding the crude oil in the first place, and then getting it out of the earth's crust and into the refinery. Oil company exploration costs are enormous - approaching $300 billion by 2015, and they'll continue to rise as oil deposits become harder to find and exploit.

In 1998 you could buy a barrel of crude for around $12; the same barrel today would cost around $112.

A rip off? That's a matter of opinion, but one thing's for sure - the price of petrol will inexorably rise in the medium to long term, and there's nothing that anyone can do to stop it happening.

Quickbeam

Right, so in your book it's the government doing the ripping off, then. Most people seem to have the idea that it's the big, bad oil companies.

Most people seem to have the idea that it's the big, bad oil companies.

Of course not, we all know that big companies have our best interests at heart and are struggling to make a profit these days. You only need to watch the current crop of ads for the high street banks to see that they really are looking after our interests these days.