MOTORISTS and business people in the Alton area are starting to feel the pinch after the latest spurt in fuel prices. Petrol and diesel prices are now at their highest ever in the UK - and it has come as a crude shock to many drivers in Alton and the surrounding villages. Average prices at pumps across the UK jumped by nearly 2p over the weekend to 94.6p a litre for unleaded petrol and 97.3p for diesel. The latest rise comes just weeks after the price of unleaded rose above 90p for the first time. In Alton this week, petrol began to trickle closer to £1 a litre with Sainsburys charging 93.9p for unleaded and 97.9p for diesel and BP 96.9p for unleaded and 99.9p for diesel. One businessman who is reeling from the spiralling fuel prices is Dave Hancock, proprietor of Alton-based Dave's Taxis. "The fuel prices going up has taken about £20 a week off of my pay - that is what it does to you," he said. "On average we put in about £140 a car a week - that is a lot of money." Kingsley-based haulage firm J Marshall Light Haulage transports goods all over the country and into Europe in its vehicle. Owner John Marshall said he was having to transfer the rise in fuel prices on to the customer. "We use £40 a day on average but it depends on where we are going to," he said. "The price of petrol does vary widely, some places it is nearly 99p a litre but somewhere else it might be about 95p. You need to shop around." East Hampshire-based Community Transport for East Hampshire is also having to pass the rising costs on to the customer. The charity relies on volunteers to drive its four 16-seater and two five-seater buses, but co-ordinator Lynne Peters said users would only notice a slight increase in prices. "The groups and lunch clubs that use community transport and those that use us for a day trip will not see a large increase per person because it will be split between the group." One Hampshire charity that relies on volunteers to provide its services is fearful of the effect the price rise will have. Age Concern Hampshire has 400 volunteers working across the county, and paid-staff, who are entitled to claim travelling expenses. Spokesman Mary Mitchell said: "We rely very heavily on volunteers to provide our services and obviously the rise in petrol prices is going to increase their mileage expenses and that of our staff." The rocketing cost of oil - which rose to a record high of $70.85 a barrel earlier this week - and security concerns in the Middle East are mainly to blame for high petrol prices. But market analyst Catalist said the current oil crisis in the US as a result of Hurricane Katrina had added further pressure to petrol pump prices in the UK. Retired Eve Barrow, of Mount Pleasant Road, Alton, was not optimistic that prices would drop as steeply as they had risen when the price of oil eventually fell again. "We are told that it has gone up because of the Iraqi war and now that it is because of Hurricane Katrina - there is always some excuse for putting it up but it never comes down," she said. l Organisers of the 2000 fuel protests, Fuel Lobby, are threatening to block all UK fuel refineries next Wednesday, from 6 am, unless fuel tax is slashed. However the government has said that cutting fuel tax would not solve the problem of high oil prices.
