Assuming 40 mpg and paying £1.03 unleaded, a round trip from Rhuthun to either Y Rhyl or Wrecsam costs in the order of £5.The price of petrol is certainly a talking point at the moment. Just about everyone in the national needs to travel, by car or other means. Few of us can or wish to walk to our work or to undertake our personal business.
But for Rhuthun, the car is very much more of a necessity than for most. There are fewer local employment opportunities open. We use the car to bridge the gap between where we chose to live and where we have to work (or where we shop, in the case of those items not in town). Whether we like it or not, Rhuthun is increasingly a dormitory town.
Mind you, those looking to buy at Glasdir (Parc Rhuthun) may be able to commute to boat, judging by the site yesterday evening.
The cost of petrol has long featured on this blog. Almost unbeknown to us, fuel has breached the £5 per gallon threshold. The most expensive currently rests at £1.099 per litre (diesel) at Texaco, as from mid-last week, which is £5.04 per gallon. That at Esso diesel is £1.089 = £4.95/gal.
With projections of a £1.50 litre, if ever there was a time for the UK governments to consider mitigation for rural residents, now is it. No matter which way you look at it, the distances people need to travel for basic, daily functions are so much greater in rural areas than in the suburbs.
Probably referring to an email chain letter doing the rounds, a suggestion in this week’s Free Press that we boycott Esso and BP fuel stations is not thought out. It ignores the small profit margin on fuel sales at independent filling stations such as Rhuthun’s family-run Dyffryn Service Station (Esso) and it further overlooks the fact in the era of small petrol station closures we need competition in this market.
| Pence per litre as at 1/12/07 | Unleaded | Diesel |
| Rhuthun Bridge Services Texaco | £1.029 | £1.099 |
| Rhuthun Dyffryn Esso | £1.029 | £1.089 |
| Wrecsam Tesco | £1.019 | £1.059 |
| Wrecsam Asda | £0.999 | £1.059 |
| Coedpoeth Co-op | £1.019 | £1.059 |
| Yr Wyddgrug/Mold Tesco | £1.019 | £1.059 |
| Yr Wyddgrug/Mold Esso | £1.009 | £1.049 |
| Dinbych Morrison's | £0.999 | £1.049 |
| Y Rhyl Shell | £0.999 | £1.029 |