Campaign urges petrol boycott - Campaign's aims

A new e-mail campaign is urging motorists to boycott the UK's biggest petrol companies in a bid to push down rising fuel prices.

With a litre of unleaded now averaging 91p, the campaign maintains that if customers boycott BP and Esso then these companies will be forced to drop their fuel prices. That, in turn, will force the rest of the market to reduce prices too.

The campaign works like a chain letter, asking recipients of the e-mail to forward it on to their friends, and has sprung up on many websites as well. It follows on from a similar but unsuccessful bid to convince motorists not to buy fuel on a certain day in the week.

The campaign believes this new plan will work because it urges motorists simply to switch to alternative suppliers such as supermarkets and small fuel companies.

However, is this kind of action effective? No, says Esso.

'Regrettably, the originators of the e-mail do not appear to have any understanding of the UK petrol market,' said a spokesman. 'If they did, they would be aware that the main factors determining the price at the pump are the price of crude oil plus tax and duty.

'These factors are not under the control of oil companies. Tax and duty represents around 65% of the pump price.'

If you take away the tax and VAT on UK fuel, Britain has the lowest price per litre in Europe. We'd like to know what you think. Do these chain letters simply clog up your inbox or do you think direct action like this could lower prices?

E-mail What Car? by clicking on the links below to tell us your views.

No, I won't be boycotting any petrol station.

Yes, I will boycott Esso and BP.