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IF THE threat of fuel shortages was not enough as refinery workers threaten industrial action at Grangemouth, Kintyre motorists took another blow this week with massive increases in the price of fuel.
And it is not just the ordinary family motorist who is getting hammered.
West Coast Motors, the bus company which provides most of the public transport in Argyll and Bute and beyond has its head office in Campbeltown.
From there, each week, Colin Craig and his staff monitor the cost of diesel.
The firm buys its fuel at wholesale prices but even so, it has risen by 20 per cent since the beginning of the year.
‘Every week we get our price and every week it gets more and more depressing as we watch the price rise,’ said Mr Craig. When you buy two million litres of fuel a year, like West Coast Motors does, a penny on the price of a litre is £20,000.
‘The situation has been made worse this year by the Scottish Government’s refusal to pass on the 2p duty rebate that was passed on to bus operators under a scheme called the Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG)’ said Mr Craig.
‘The operators of registered local bus services can claim this and the Westminster government has passed this on to English operators, but not in Scotland.’
West Coast Motors raised the cost of its fares last week on buses and private hire.
Mr Craig believes that high prices are here to stay.
‘It will mean that we have to look closely at the future of some services which just break even, they become even less profitable as prices rise.’
At Kintyre haulier Peter McKerral and Co, partner Peter McKerral is in daily contact with his fuel supplier and main customers.
The firm’s fuel consumption runs at around 1.8 million litres a year.
‘A penny jump in price is scary, let alone two or three pence,’ said Mr McKerral.
Depending on the size of load and distance a log lorry can use up to 300 litres of fuel in a day.
‘We filled our tanks up only last week and that should last us a fortnight,’ said Mr McKerral who believes that panic buying of fuel ‘ is a bit silly’.
‘But we all can’t carry on the way we are, a lot of our work is tied into contracts,’ he said, adding that the ever increasing fuel costs were hitting all aspects of life from the family shopping basket upwards.
‘It’s all about distribution costs,’ said Mr McKerral.
r As The Courier went to press refinery owner Ineos was meeting with trade union Unite to try and prevent a two-day halt to production as of Sunday; the refinery has been gradually shutting down its processes in preparation.
On Tuesday County Garage in Campbeltown reported that while it had been busier than normal, few motorists were showing signs of panic buying.
The garage had a delivery tanker that day, but was unsure when its next would arrive.
