{"id":787268,"date":"2026-09-30T09:14:18","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T09:14:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/787268\/"},"modified":"2026-09-30T09:14:18","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T09:14:18","slug":"soaring-fuel-costs-force-tough-choices-for-south-east-businesses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/787268\/","title":{"rendered":"Soaring fuel costs force tough choices for South East businesses"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The soaring diesel prices have not just affected businesses, but those who rely on it regularly.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Rocky Alan, a biker from Hastings in East Sussex, said: &#8220;Life is getting harder for everyone and people are looking for ways to save money.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Alan said she had been riding her 125cc bike more regularly as it was more economical, costing \u00a36 to fill up.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">When asked whether rising fuel prices would make her give up biking, she replied: &#8220;Bikers would always find a way to keep doing it, even if that meant making a few adjustments.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Gordon Balmer, executive director of Petrol Retailers&#8217; Association, said: &#8220;Record diesel prices are hitting motorists, businesses and retailers alike. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;Drivers are cutting back on fuel purchases, businesses are facing higher costs, and retailers have reduced diesel margins by 21% since July to help soften the impact.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">It said it was urging the government to abandon plans to raise fuel duty next year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">A spokesperson for HM Treasury said: &#8220;As has always been the case, decisions on tax are a matter for the chancellor to set out at fiscal events, rather than routinely commenting on rumour, speculation or proposals.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;The government will not be increasing fuel duty this year, extending the temporary 5p fuel duty cut until 31 December.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Follow BBC Kent on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/BBCinKent\/\" class=\"ssrcss-1e0jzsh-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Facebook, external<\/a>,  <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/BBCRadioKent\" class=\"ssrcss-1e0jzsh-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\" rel=\"nofollow\">X, external<\/a>, and on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/bbcinkent\/\" class=\"ssrcss-1e0jzsh-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Instagram, external<\/a> and listen to BBC Radio Kent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/sounds\/play\/live\/bbc_radio_kent\" class=\"ssrcss-1e0jzsh-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">on Sounds<\/a>. Send your story ideas to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/articles\/mailto:southeasttoday@bbc.co.uk\u00a0\" class=\"ssrcss-1e0jzsh-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">southeasttoday@bbc.co.uk, external<\/a> or WhatsApp us on 08081 002250.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The soaring diesel prices have not just affected businesses, but those who rely on it regularly. Rocky Alan,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":787269,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-787268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=787268"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787268\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/787269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=787268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=787268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=787268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}