The red diesel irony.

This is unfortunately often the case. We are often penalised so that we are induced to change our ways ie
tax on car fuel, congestion charges etc.
I would actually be in favour of this if we were given a decent alternative but we never are. I was looking to go from Andover to Salcombe which is around 5 hrs by train + taxi + bus and unless you have the patience to go through various internet sites you could pay £200 for a 200 mile train journey.

As someone else pointed out where are the electric tractors and infrastructure? Will the government be offering farmers tax brakes on Shire horses to apply the carrot as well as the stick?

i would like to see the government be forced to produce statistics on the alternatives that they create from every £1 tax increase. They could for example invest in solar panels on every roof to help power electric vehicles.

Certainly apply a stick to make us move away from something but only if you also provide a carrot for us to move to.
 
I too remember M. Diesel in the 80s and fueling from his barge at about 90p a gallon. My best ever buy was off the refueler in Falmouth in 99 1200 gallons (yes gallons) £600 cash only.
I think the days of any concession will be gone for good soon. I should buy a small a boat or give it up but now into my 70s I am not going to I am going spend more of the kids inheritance and poke two fingers up for as long as I can
 
Item on BBC R4 this morning about the demise of Red Diesel . Interview with somebody from farming sector,(doom and gloom) and mention of the fact that the fuel escalator has also been frozen for the past 9 years.
Basic idea of the piece, something is about to change after a decade of keeping Sierra and White Van Man on side ?
No mention of boats.
 
Responding to the comments about age and cost of fuel - I'm not yet 40, I have a burgeoning family and a 50ft motorboat. It is our holiday home as much as anything. An increase in the fuel price will be notable for us. It won't put us off, we are thankfully able to weather the cost if it came to it, but it would make us re-evaluate our plans. For instance, it would likely cause us to relocate because at present, the boat is close to home which we like, but further away from places we want to actually stay on board. We would have to flip things around and spend more time on the road (or possibly even in the air) in order to then cruise less far when we are actually on board. Interestingly for us, that would mean a reduction in mooring costs too, which would negate the additional road/air miles.
 
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I boat on a budget and use the boat a lot. Their plan will have the desired effect on me. Less trips out, more plodding along at raggie speeds.
 
BruceK said:
I boat on a budget and use the boat a lot. Their plan will have the desired effect on me. Less trips out, more plodding along at raggie speeds.
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A conundrum that many have had to confront since boating began.
One chap who moors with us lives just over 80 miles away.
However the boating that is on his doorstep at home is not for him and it costs a fortune to moor there.
 
BruceK said:
I boat on a budget and use the boat a lot. Their plan will have the desired effect on me. Less trips out, more plodding along at raggie speeds.
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I think most people have a budget but some are able to have a bigger budget than others.

I keep the boat less than a mile from home. The marina costs around here are not exactly cheap and have increased above general inflation over the years but they still make the south coast look very expensive.

Given the annual standing costs of moorings , insurance and in our case river license , the idea of cutting back on trips out does not sound like an attractive way of achieving good value from those costs.
 
I’ve read this thread and it made me think about the wonderful times I had in a variety of types of boat. I stopped for reasons entirely unconnected with cost.

With fuel prices going the way they are going now, it would have been a prohibitive factor had I been thinking about starting out today.

So, I’m glad I owned mobos when I did. And feel sorry for those who will miss out on the experience.
 
benjenbav said:
So, I’m glad I owned mobos when I did.
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In retrospect, probably the period 1980-2008 will be looked back on as the golden age of motorboating. New boat prices were more affordable to more people, fuel and berthing costs were more reasonable and we werent being told we were ruining the planet
 
Is it not the case that commercial users with petrol engines can claim back more than just vat? I suspect farmers, fishermen etc will get the tax increase back.
 
gordmac said:
Is it not the case that commercial users with petrol engines can claim back more than just vat? I suspect farmers, fishermen etc will get the tax increase back.
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Doesnt that make a mockery of why we have Red in the fist place?
 
gordmac said:
Is it not the case that commercial users with petrol engines can claim back more than just vat? I suspect farmers, fishermen etc will get the tax increase back.
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I don't think so .
The VAT ,probably, but not the duty.
 
Are we perhaps jumping to the wrong conclusion?
While all machinery use will have to pay full duty , will it not be the case that domestic use will be at the lower rate?
If so might we be allowed to continue with the 60/40 split?
 
MartynG said:
Are we perhaps jumping to the wrong conclusion?
While all machinery use will have to pay full duty , will it not be the case that domestic use will be at the lower rate?
If so might we be allowed to continue with the 60/40 split?
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IIRC no. You will need a separate tank for the diesel heater etc apart from those used for propulsion.
 
BruceK said:
IIRC no. You will need a separate tank for the diesel heater etc apart from those used for propulsion.
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We are live aboards andhave two tanks that can be combined but normally not, generator and Eberspacher both run off just one tank so will that count, Since filling last November we have used none for propulsion only heating and generating leccy, how will that fit in. How will esidential canal boats be treated?
 
Elessar said:
Whilst we were in the EU and they wanted us to scrap red diesel, the government used the very pragmatic 60:40 solution to saying “up yours”
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Indeed. However, many of the forum sages, as ever with their fingers not on the pulse of current events, argued that 60:40 was a sellout and that it was all part of of the dastardly Gordon Brown's plot to raise exchequer revenue while at the the same time declaring class war on middle England's boat owners' rights to reduced duty. Both views were nonsense.
 
Whilst I don't welcome the news that red will go I think it was inevitable for us motorboaters and I think I can Iiv with it. What concerns me more is what may be around the corner as we get nearer the ban on the sale of fossil fuel cars. I can't see how it is going to work in all honesty and what really concerns me is the Government's inability to look at things holistically and their default position of resorting to additional tax as the answer.
.
 
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