TIME was when people were left fuming about escalating petrol prices.

Nowadays we view the rises as such an everyday occurrence that we shrug our shoulders, pay up and get on with life.

Nevertheless, it is sobering to learn from an Examiner story today that the average price for a litre of unleaded is now 107.1p.

As consumers, our power is limited – we are largely in the lap of the multi-national petrol companies which set the prices and the global issues that drive them.

You don’t have to be a car-owner to feel the rub of prices which are at an all-time high. Fuel price increases mean retail price rises, as businesses pass on delivery costs. Public transport also becomes more expensive.

In the UK, the price we pay for our fuel is quite ludicrously inflated by the levels of duty now imposed by the government. Whitehall defends it on environmental grounds, but if the Government was really so green and eco-friendly, there are many much tougher but less lucrative steps it could take to help the planet.

When fuel prices rise, so does the cost of food and other goods, so it’s vital that the price of fuel is reduced.

Many people will have sympathy with the view that the 2p fuel duty rise due later this year should be scrapped for the sake of the economy.