Oxford couriers facing particularly high fuel costs
Date: 25 January 2008
Couriers and owner drivers in Oxfordshire are facing some of the highest fuel prices in the country, and one local courier firm may have to close, the Oxford Mail reports.
A litre of unleaded petrol now averages 103.4p in Oxford, with diesel prices costing 108.6p, placing increasing strain on courier firms.
This means that filling a 50-litre tank now costs £51.70, which is £7.41 more than it cost a year ago. As well as this, the government is threatening to increase fuel duty by 2p per litre this spring.
Keith Toomey of local courier company KT Couriers is thinking of closing his firm down, having run it for the last 16 years.
"It's terrible. I can't afford to do the job anymore. It's just getting out of hand, it's ridiculous," he told the newspaper.
"My profit margin is down to next to nothing. I have not put my prices up since 2002. This time I'm going to have to start adding an extra £10 or £15 per hundred miles for the cost of fuel."
Another firm, RM Couriers, said that it would have to put its prices up to cover rising fuel costs.
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