REMEMBER the fuel protests of September 2000? The blockades at oil refineries? The serious questions about whether life-and-death services could be kept going as fuel ran out?

What you might find harder to recall is the price of petrol at the time.

In fact, large numbers of drivers were up in arms because unleaded had hit an average of 80 pence a litre.

Fast-forward to 2011 and drivers in the Bournemouth-Poole conurbation are paying anything from 132.7p and 139.9p per litre for unleaded, with diesel nudging £1.50.

That surely tells us that however expensive fuel gets, most people either love driving so much that they’ll keep doing it, or feel have no choice.

We all know we need to cut our dependence on the car, but until public transport becomes safer and more convenient for more people – and until people feel cycling is safe and easy – drivers will just continue to grumble but find the money.