Does fuel cost way to much? Yes! It is killing many small business fact! UPDATED

One thing that seems to be a truth held self everdent is petrol/Diesel cost way to much (Gas) and it does not mater if your in the Uk,US,Germany,Etc. It just is.
I will try to aviod ranting and just look at the facts like I tried on the MP pay rise blog.
The cost of fuel is effected by many factors.
And is more complex to make than some people may realise.

Does Petrol cost to much ? YES!

But why?
Lets look at this in a simply as possible way.
1 finding oil Costs money
2 drilling oil costs money
3 shipping oil to be refined costs money
4 refining oil costs money
5 shipping/transporting oil to petrol stations costs money
6 selling the petrol/fuel to end user make money
That is 5 stage at the simplest before the likes of BP make any money (and that is forgetting certain things like Human resources and its costs and the like_Etc..)

But are they been greedy I mean they make billions in profit every year?
Again lets face it there used to be loads of petrol stations in the UK and loads have closed. Are the profit that big per unit? After all BP sell millions/billions  of units every year. So their profit look massive but that is primarily due to the sheer amount of petroleum products sold every year rather than been excessive profit per unit.

Lets consider this a average Truck need £1000 plus a week in fuel about £800 goes to government.(older figures please correct me if I am wrong on these +Road Haulage Association or +Freight Transport Association  ) This is where the problem lies firmly at the feet of the government not the oil companies.

As a small business Clark trading has go use fuel to do many things thankfully we can limit our mileage in a way some other sectors can not. Like haulage high fuel price have and still do push business to the wall,there is only so much you can shallow or pass along to the customer. Before they go else where.

The high fuel taxation in the UK is bad for business and the customer! It is bad for every one

It is about time the Mps saw this simple fact  ! AND ACTED.! REDUCE FUEL DUTY TO GET THE UK MOVING AGAIN/FASTER IT IS A BRAKE ON THE COUNTRY'S GROWTH BUT NO IT SEEM EVERY TIME THE BUDGET COMES ALONG EVEN MORE TAX IS HEAPED ON THE POOR MOTORIST. 

And just to prove the point why does diesil cost more than Petrol? (UK) when it is a simpler fuel because it has even more tax on than petrol. 

Fuel in the UK is double taxed. 

 +Federation of Small Businesses 

Questions for the new year? 2014

I have done 2 blogs about my predictions for 2014.This is sort of part 3 but with a different tact or is it tack?

Questions for the new year.?

1 will petrol/diesel price drop? (Gas for any readers from the US) With out trying to rant on this topic. Which is not easy at my local Petrol station it like £1.35 ( a litre not Gallon)  when I last looked. (Sub question will oil price go up or down. I have a bad felling they will keep going up and up driving our fuel bills up. I hope I am wrong ) Please take a look at my next blog it will be all about this topic
2 What will happen with the Heathrow run way debate?
3 What is going to be the biggest movie of the year?
4 Will train fare go up on the 2nd of January ? They always do so I think a better question is by how much?
5 Will Hs2 get the go ahead?
6 Will the Goverment approve Hull train's plan to hook Hull up?

I could keep going on But I will leave it at these 6 for now

So this is the end,the final curtain, for 2013 (what a year,it had it all the good the bad and the ugly)  and one of our last blog for this year Happy new year
See you in 2014

My predictions for 2014 Part 2 #2014 The quick fire sporting Round

Here are a few more predictions to go with the lot for yesterdays. 

Sport/football

One way or another the Hull city name issue will be resolved not sure which way it will go. 

Manchester United will not win the Premier league and will sack Moyes,But I am not sure who will win the league.

My predictions for 2014 (Updated)

Firstly here is wishing every one a happy new year and hoping you had a great Christmas.
There is now less than 4 full days left of 2013 and I have looked back at the year. So what left.?
Looking forward to 2014

Here are my predictions for the new year a few anyway!

The given s
There will be natural disasters that a given.
People will be born and die, the sun will rise and set. The same old in that sense each year certain things happen no mater what like spring and summer and they are easy to predict.

Hull related
Siemeins will give the go ahead on there part for green port Hull and their factory.

Sporting predictions
Not a prediction 2014 winter Olympics in Russia and Britain will not get many medals we never do. We are just better at summer sports. We will most likely get a medal in bob sledge or is it sleigh?
The 2014 Football (fussball) world cup and England will not win ( I have done a blog on why I think this on here or our website) in Brazil. My prediction the host Brazil to win. And England will sack the manager.
Hull city will survive in the premier league (past season makes this one look good, mid table at Christmas )(beating Liverpool and beating no thrashing Fulham today don't harm their chances) 

Not a prediction a statement of intent on our part here!
We will be supporting Dove house hospice in 2014 and with your help raise more funds than in 2013

Updated 29 December 2013
 World

• 2014 is the year that Britain and the rest of NATO pulls out of Afghanistan so it will be a good year for a few logistical firms 
• We will also see a further reduction in piracy across the world.  

The Year in review 2013

With only 6 days of 2013 left the mind look forward to the new year 2014, and here wishing you a happy and prosperus new year from myself and Clark trading to yourselves.
And it is also that point in the year were you look back at the year.
And has 2013 been a good or bad year?
I would say on the international stage/world wide and here in the UK it has been a bad year. But a ok to good year for the city of Hull
December 2013
Uk and costal Europe
The tidal surge the worst in 60 years in Hull I have seen just some of the damage but it into the 10s of million and that is just Hull this was along the coast of the UK (it has been estimated by ABP there was more water in the Humber than in 1953 the last major tidal surge, and it a fact most of Hull would have flood with out the tidal barrier so well done to the enviroment agency)
Still in December the Christmas day flooding down south.
The thyphon in Asia the strongest ever recorded 6000 plus dead
The Boston bombing
The Okahoma tornado that entire towns of the map
Washington navy yard massacare and other gun crime spees in the US
Numerous conflict in Africa
Piracy in Somila
And numerous other things

Personal level
The house fire

The good ?
A new pope? Not convinced this is good just not bad.
New royal baby? ( it is the first time 4 generations of monach and next in line have been alive together)
Locally/Hull
Hull city promoted
Hull fc got to the Challenge Cup final
Hull named city of Culture 2017
And others
It been a ok year for the city of Hull

How ever a good or bad year you have had
Here hoping and wishing 2014 is your best year yet

The most Christmas post I could do (A business post/products PPE)

Here @ Clark trading we stock a wide range of products in a wide price range including our extensive range of PPE. When it comes to PPE we have you covered from Head to toe.

And brand like Proforce are British owned and made. And it go without saying they all meet all relevant Ce marks

Brands range from Proforce,toesaver,Himyalan to Catapillar Doc martain and others
Below is a selection of the types of PPE we stock

A Christmas message

2013 is nearly at an end and tomorrow is Christmas day were has the year gone? It seem to take for ever as a child to get to Christmas. I hope every one reading this has had a good year and prosperous year. It has been a mixed year here at Clark trading the company has had some very good trading months our social media and website has been growing nicely since they were launched in July. In fact the website is over 11000 visitors at last count. But on the negative we lost days of trading after that fire. So it been a strange year.
I wish every one a happy Christmas/ Merry Christmas

So what does Christmas mean to you?
I for one love the food and the decorations. But fell they go over board on the radio with the Christmas music. But young and old it should be about family. That what Christmas has evolved into from a religious festival for most people.

Christmas wishes

On behalf of every one here @ Clark trading  (Myself,Lynne and Paul) I wish every one a merry Christmas and a happy new year
Here hoping and wishing that 2014 will be ours and your best  year yet

Video games and violence! (updated)

How often do we hear after some massacre that the person responsible had been playing the latest war video game or the like of GTA ? It seems like each time it happens this line is brought out of the cold. But why? Is there any validate to this statement?

Do Video games cause violence ?
(I have exam-end this topic before on our website www.Clark-trading.co.uk)   And have decided  do so again in more detail.

Firstly yes this is a commonly held view among many people out there. And lets remember every time a new GTA comes out a lot of the negative press is in fact paid for by Rock star to draw attention to the product and control a lot of the negativity.
Using GTA as a starting point with the exception of war games GTA is one if not the most violent video games on the market were you can murder people in a wide range of ways that is with out a doubt a fact no matter were you stand on this debate. but lets remember these games are a 18 for this reason. The same arguments used to say video games cause violence can be used on movies and books.

I do accept violent video games can change the way a young child act and thinks to a certain degree and that is why there is a age certificate system in place.  If a child is playing Gta or the like there parent have got it for them and believe they can handle it rightly or wrongly as the case may be. Yes to a certain point children struggle to tell the difference between fact and fiction and they should not be playing these games in fact they where not made for them anyway.

A simple fact as I see it is a person playing violent video games will not go out on a rampage simple due to playing these games.So to say this game or that is the single a person did the violent act is simply wrong and giving them an excuse for there actions a crutch. And this is not helpful to them or their victims it deems the victims. If a person can not tell the difference between the game and real life they have a problem and it is bigger than the game they need help and giving them an excuses for there actions is not the help they need is it? NO!
For a person to go out and commit act of violence there has to be a underlying reason and the video game by them selves is not that reason it may in some extreme case help but that all.

Update
Video games have been blamed for violence on numerous occasion since their invention. But let face it did massacres and the like not occur prior to the early 1990's?
You can make many of the same arguments on video games causing violence with movies and books. The only difference is how imersive a video game is

Thanks for reading

Hull photos of a sporting ilk

Hull may be? Hull is?

We hear a lot about Hull is this or that. But what is Hull really like. And I am not talking about the negatives or the positives just the things people say in general. E.g. Hull is this or that. Good or Bad.

So.

Hull may be is.?

• Dirty/untidy/Grubby? Yes this is the case in certain places. but what modern city any where in the world does not have areas like this?
• Smelly and smells of Fish ? No there is no maybe on this one and I have covered it in a other blog on here.

Hull is ?

• One thing that is certain about Hull is that we are a traditional industrial/port/fishing city and all these things are working class. Which means? Hull is a working class city which has lead it to a different point than other city in Yorkshire and England. Hull is after all nothing like London and many southern city's which is why the media often pick on us and other northern city as we are unlike what they know down there we are different.
• Hull is a essential city to the UK in a way even London can not manage as are other port and industrial city like Liverpool. The UK needs it ports more than many other things.  (Again I have several blogs on here about the port )

Thanks for reading 

Ashley @ Clark Trading

How the docks shape Hull's landscape

A did a blog on How the Port of Hull is a very important part of the city it's history culture and why we are where are.I have included some photo from various source of the Port of Hull then and now to demostart my point. I love a industrial landscape so think in a strange way they have there own charm but one thing is certain they shape this city. In fact they run nearly the whole length of the city with a gap between at Victoria dock housing estate to humber quays but the marina in the way and was once a dock it self.

I am please to annouce our first 1000 visitors

Thanks to every one

What is different about Clark trading

 have been discussing the company in some detail on this blog of late, 

Been the same as every other General trader would be no good for us or you but why are we different. 

The people for one (yes I know every company can say that) 

As I have said before there is a age difference around here @ Clark trading and all about new and old ideas happily living together. A further few points I will add, We have a very wide range of skill sets around Here for one example Lynne is a Qualified chef you may say so but in fact it has it use to both us and you it mean she can answer question about kitchen related product with some authority. She also worked in school meals as a head cook meaning she has experience with children which comes in handy at Car boot/market sales during the year. And these are just 2 example I could go on about others but the point is our wide range of experience means we can do thing other can not as we have a very wide range of knowledge resulting from all this. 

Our is it the wide range of products we sell. 

Our long hours 

Our even all the advantages been a small business offers to customers 

And yes this next statement every one says we are Customer focused but in fact our range of experience make this easier to deliver than it is for some. 

There are many other which I have discussed in other blogs  

Thanks from Clark Trading 

I will take this opportunity to thank every visitor to this blog site we now have gone over 1000 and also wish you a merry Christmas 

Why you are better off with a small company

As I have often said across this website been small means we can do thing our larger rivals can not. So what are the plus of small business in general 

1 Customer have a directer route to the boss try getting thought to the boss at tesco and see how you do. At Clark trading and other small business you are dealing directly with the boss, 

2 fewer departments mean no getting past from pillar to post the left hand and the right know what the others doing plus often staff/owners can and do work all areas so know the day to day operations that is the case here @ Clark Trading 

3 Been smaller means lower overheads 

4 Less complex systems and more flexibility means things are quicker and easier to solve, an example of this is if we are having problems with a courier we just swap them out the big boy would have contract make that harder for them there are numerous examples for this one 

5 We are an open company that prides it selves on that human touch that is often missing with the big boy at Clark trading every one has a stake in the company and is passionate about the company. How often have you seen it staff at other company are just there for the wage no pride in the job company or product. 

Thanks for reading please visit the website 

Above is only a brief summary on this topic it could be 100s of point long if I wished

Why not drop a message with your suggestions 

Hull green spaces and a few things photo collection

Hull is quite a green city. In fact queens gardens is the only park in a city centre in the north of England and East park is a 120 acres grade 2 listed park and these are only 2 of the parks in Hull.

And can anyone tell me where the first picture is in Hull? And what has become of it? 

What is man kinds great invention ?

Since before record history as a species Human's have been inventing and developing tech and gadgets. But what is our best.

Hard question?

How do you decide qualify this?

• One way I think of is how useful it is 
• Has it changed the way we lifes the way we life.
• can it safe life's
• has it lead to further tech and advances

Any ideas and suggestions 

I would suggest the smoke alarm/fire alarm

Thanks for reading

Lets hook up Hull!

Hull is served by Hull paragon interchange which is a diesel only line with Victorian and outdated signing up until Gilberdyke junction. This result in the line closing at 11pm every day. This can and does cause limits. Lets take Doncaster railway station it has freight trains passing thru at all hours this can not happen in 

Hull (on the Route not the station) and it limit passenger train services to so 1 simple improvement need is to up grade the signals. First Hull trains are offering to upgrade the line between Hull and Selby by Electrifying it  at their expensive apx 90 million they think as the latest upgrade plans stop at Selby. The Government needs to back this for one how can they lose a private railway firm is offer to foot the bill (Hull trains is no a franchised line but a open access company so the tax payer is not paying for  this indirectly  ) Hull trains also says it will speed up journey times I will take they word on this. As I don't understand how this statement works do Electric trains accelerate faster? (one possible down side to this plan Hull railway station is often used in Tv for period dramas due to the lack of power lines) I understand that Electric trains are more reliable than diesel and are cleaner directly for the Environment and more modern. And will be better for business. 

Thanks for reading 

Clark Trading