Ron wrote: snipped: > The fact that they all smelt the same shows that they were all the same - > the oil companies tend to sell each others fuel (with only minor adjustments > as to their preferred additives) - otherwise the transportation costs would > be large - we used to live near a large Mobil (now BP) refinery in Essex, > and every brand of tanker went there.
This fact, long been common knowledge, only goes to show what a hollow excuse it is that the petrol companies use for different pricing in different parts of the country. They have long claimed that the difference is forced upon them by differing distribution costs. If that were genuinely the case it wouldn't explain why the price of fuel, in the same branded stations, varies by many pence per litre, when there is only a short distance between those stations. IMO it's more to do with what they think (and do) get away with in the market area. Here in Yorkshire it is noticeable that the more affluent areas pay high prices (for example, the price in Ilkley is always very high) whereas if you drive further toward and into Bradford the price drops significantly......but you'll never convince me that the cost differential between Ilkley and Bradford (not many miles apart) is genuinely caused by distribution costs. Roger
