Petrol prices are now making life extremely expensive for us in this glorious widespread rural area. Most people depend on the car to get to work, do their shopping, access health care and everything else. In areas like ours a 20 mile trip to work is quite normal and can be much more. Or 10-15 miles round trip to do the shopping. A recent report says that people are now cutting back on food and clothes so that they can fill the car up.
Unless the Government does something to address this we will rapidly be getting to the situation that those on minimum wage and just above will not be able to afford to work. Many young people are employed by the big retail shop chains on minimum wage but only for 8 or 12 hours a week – on 3 or 4 hour shifts – 6 journeys. They get less than jobseekers allowance would pay and they will soon be paying out most of their pay in petrol. What should they do then? Become unemployed? How will our shops and care services run then? Those on low pensions are also finding this difficult.
Care for the elderly, School transport, food transport, travel to health care are all hit very hard in Shropshire. I have raised this in London with Lord Bill Bradshaw, who is on the Transport Team and with the Local Government Association. Let us hope that Government listens and notices there is a problem. Something has to be done soon before hardship becomes severe.