Drivers say surging cost of diesel ‘taking its toll’published at 14:04 BST
14:04 BST
Jasmine Sandhar
BBC Newsbeat, reporting from West Midlands
Image caption,
Patrick Thompson says prices seem to just keeping going “up and up”
“Since I’ve started driving the price keeps going up
and up and up,” Patrick Thompson tells me as he stops to fill up at a petrol
station in the West Midlands: “It’s taking a toll.”
The 25-year-old uses his van every week to carry building
materials and workmates to jobs.
But diesel prices are so high that Eddie Rowe, who also
works in the building trade, says he’s recently had to start using an estate
car to keep costs down.
“It’s obviously better” on fuel than a truck, the
24-year-old from Cannock says, “but it’s more awkward” for
transporting materials.
Dave Smith, 55, from Brownhills, runs a business
transporting ponies and estimates he drives about 20,000 miles a year for work.
“We seem to be living at the fuel pump now,” he
says, adding that he spends more on diesel than on food for the ponies at the moment.
“It’s our biggest expenditure… You’re trying to earn but you’re paying more out than
what you’re earning.”
Image caption,
Dave Smith says he’s now paying more on diesel than than on food for the ponies he transports