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Thinking of changing the car as its 15yr old with 210k on the clock.
Not sure what to do, try and run it for another year or bite the bullet now. What are the chances the Orangutan in the oval office causes a global recession 

John Higgins shouldn't be playing professional snooker end of. He is ruining these tournaments.

The great city of Bangor Co. Down      get ta fcuk

This will affect the south as well

As of mid-April 2026, the UK's diesel supply is currently described as stable but depleted, following significant pressure from global geopolitical conflicts. While the government and industry trade bodies maintain that supply is "flowing normally", forecourt stock levels reached a three-year low at the end of March 2026.

Current Diesel Stock Levels
National Average Capacity: Filling stations across the UK are currently averaging approximately 40% of their total capacity.
Historical Context: This represents the lowest level of diesel and petrol reserves since December 2022.
Regional Variations: Stock levels are significantly tighter in certain areas. For example, Northern Ireland hit lows of 26% at the end of March, while parts of South West England saw levels dip to 31%

Supply Chain and Risks
Import Reliance
The UK is a net importer of diesel, with roughly 40% of its supply coming from refineries in the Netherlands and Belgium, which are themselves highly dependent on Middle Eastern crude.
Future Shortage Warnings: Analysts have warned that if global disruptions (such as the recent conflict in Iran) continue, diesel stockpiles could be further run down by mid-May 2026.
Refining Capacity: UK domestic production of petroleum products dropped to a record low of 49.4 million tonnes in 2025.

Government and Industry Response

Contingency Planning
The government has reviewed its Fuel Contingency Plan 2026, which includes measures such as fuel prioritisation for essential services (emergency vehicles, food delivery) and potential £30 limits at pumps to prevent panic buying if supplies tighten further.

Official Guidance
Drivers are currently advised to maintain their usual buying habits and not to stock up, as panic buying is currently the primary driver of localized shortages rather than actual supply chain failure.

As a commercial operation for London, the hydrogen bus fleet is not currently turning a profit and requires ongoing public subsidies to run. However, the manufacturer, Wrightbus, has recently reached overall profitability as a company.
The situation is split between the high cost of the trial and the commercial success of the bus maker:
1. The London Fleet (Operational Costs)
For Transport for London (TfL) and the bus operators, these hydrogen buses are significantly more expensive to run than alternatives:
Operating Loss: A 2023 report indicated that hydrogen buses cost approximately £1.50 per mile to operate, compared to just £0.65 per mile for battery-electric buses and £0.80 for diesel.
High Fuel Costs: Hydrogen fuel remains substantially more expensive than electricity or diesel. In some transit trials, hydrogen fuel costs have been reported at up to four times the cost of diesel per mile.
Subsidy Dependent: The initial purchase of the 20 buses cost £10.85 million (£543k per bus), but nearly £6 million of that was covered by EU and UK government grants, reducing TfL's net cost to roughly £238k per bus

[Hydrogen is a long way off from practical use as the fact it has to be stored under high pressure and then this is transferred to the machine under pressure as well means there is too much risk involved for the public to use it]

Hydrogen is a long way off from practical use as the fact it has to be stored under high pressure and then this is transferred to the machine under pressure as well means there is too much risk involved for the public to use it.

You also have storage issues as it requires alot more volume for a lot less product.

Where have you been? There's hydrogen buses in London now, made in Ballymena of all places.

https://wrightbus.com/

Hydrogen is currently not used more widely because it is expensive to produce, difficult to store, and less energy-efficient than competing technologies like electric batteries. While it is the most abundant element in the universe, on Earth it rarely exists as a standalone gas and must be extracted from other substances, which requires significant energy and specialized infrastructure.
Horizon Educational

The main barriers to its widespread adoption include:
High Costs and Production Hurdles
Production Expenses: Currently, "green" hydrogen (made using renewable electricity) is two to three times more expensive to produce than fossil-fuel-based alternatives.
Dirty Production: Approximately 95–96% of global hydrogen is still "grey" hydrogen produced from natural gas, a process that releases high amounts of
.
Electricity Costs: Producing green hydrogen via electrolysis is highly sensitive to electricity prices, which currently account for about 70% of total production costs.

Technical and Physical Challenges
Low Energy Density: Hydrogen has very low volumetric energy density; even in liquid form, it requires roughly four times the storage space of petrol for the same amount of energy.
Storage Complexity: Storing it requires either extreme pressure (up to 700 bar) or cryogenic temperatures (
), both of which are energy-intensive and require expensive, heavy tanks.
Leakage and Fragility: As the smallest molecule, hydrogen easily leaks through seals and can cause "hydrogen embrittlement," which weakens metal pipes and containers over time.

Infrastructure and Market Competition
Missing Infrastructure: Unlike electricity, which has an existing grid, or petrol, which has established stations, hydrogen requires a completely new and expensive network of pipelines and refuelling stations.

Efficiency Disadvantage:
Direct use of electricity in batteries is far more efficient. Battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) typically boast 80-90% round-trip efficiency, while hydrogen fuel cell systems only manage about 35-45% due to energy losses during production, compression, and conversion.

Vehicle Availability:
There are very few hydrogen vehicle models available to the public (such as the Toyota Mirai and Hyundai Nexo), and they often come with much higher purchase prices than their battery-powered counterparts

Wrightbus...lol

You can be sure the City of London is making some serious money at the minute

Hydrogen is a long way off from practical use as the fact it has to be stored under high pressure and then this is transferred to the machine under pressure as well means there is too much risk involved for the public to use it.

You also have storage issues as it requires alot more volume for a lot less product.

We should all storm Greencastle and start digging, our worries will be over 

At the current price the UK treasury is taking approx 80p in tax from every litre of diesel sold

The south relies too much on the brits for energy, how could you ever negotiate anything with them if they threaten to cut of your oil/diesel supply.

Amazing seeing that rocket take off. Would love to see it in real time, must be some roar of it.

Might announce a cut in fuel duty although Labor seem hard to get anything out of.

G7 meeting now to discuss whether to release their storage reserves to help reduce prices and just as I type this they're not dipping into the reserves

There is no supply issue

Just remember these oil price rises has nothing to the supply of the stuff from the ground, it's purely down to investors looking to make money.

Just remember its not the small shops that put up the prices, they don't have control over the display boards. Its whoever owns the pumps that can just change the prices from HQ.

I know of one supplier who puts the price off fuel up by a few pence at peak traffic times then drops it again.