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Fair Fuel UK boss blames “militant cyclist” for marking his house as petrol station on Google Maps

Howard Cox says he was inundated with calls from motorists looking to panic-buy petrol

The ​head of Fair Fuel UK, which lobbies the government over fuel duty, says he has been inundated with calls from panic-buying drivers after an unknown person listed his home as a petrol station on Google Maps – and blames a “militant cyclist” for it.

Howard Cox revealed the prank on his Twitter account yesterday, a day when long queues were forming at petrol stations across the country as motorists rushed to the pumps to fill up due to reports of shortages due to a lack of tanker drivers.

The listing appears to have been made at least several weeks earlier, however, given that the solitary review it attracted was published “1 month ago,” according to Google Maps.

Cox is adamant that what he terms a “militant cyclist” was behind his contact details being registered with Google Maps as those of a petrol station, based on reaction to his tweet about it.

“I got 70 phone calls with people saying: ‘Have you got any petrol for sale?’” said Cox, quoted in the Guardian.

“I was panicking because my phone didn’t stop ringing and it’s my private home address. They typed in ‘petrol stations near me’ and it came up with a little flag over my house saying ‘petrol station’.”

As for the culprit, he said: “It has to be an environmentalist. The people who are laughing their socks off are mainly cyclists, I’ve blocked a lot of them. If I find him – I’m assuming it’s a him – I’m not quite sure I can control my actions. I’m convinced it’s a militant cyclist.”

It's a term that Cox regularly uses on social media to describe critics of Fair Fuel UK, which is funded by the Road Haulage Association and Logistics UK, and which boasts that it has saved drivers £100 billion in planned fuel duty rises.

He also used it when he appeared on the TV channel GB News last month and accused the broadcaster Jeremy Vine as well as “a very highly vocal minority of militant cyclists” of promoting what he termed “a ‘them and us’ struggle” between cyclists and motorists.

> Fair Fuel UK founder accuses Jeremy Vine of “Fuelling a war between drivers and cyclists”

But while Cox insists that he is willing to work alongside cycling organisations to draw up a long-term plan for the future of the nation’s roads, a report last month paid for and produced by Fair Fuel UK described  motorists as “hard-pressed” and “perennially demonised,” and the victims of “political bias” in favour of cyclists.

The report, entitled Party Parliamentary Group for Fair Fuel for UK Motorists and UK Hauliers entitled What does the 2030 fossil fuelled new vehicle sales ban really mean to the economy, environment, and UK’s 37m drivers? called on the government, among other things, to “Instruct local authorities to build new cycle schemes AWAY from existing roads” – without suggesting where and how that might be achieved.

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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26 comments

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hutchdaddy | 1 year ago
2 likes

Howard Cox said "I’m convinced it’s a militant cyclist.”

He also used it  (the term militant cyclist) when he appeared on the TV channel GB News last month and accused the broadcaster Jeremy Vine as well as “a very highly vocal minority of militant cyclists” of promoting what he termed “a ‘them and us’ struggle” between cyclists and motorists.

Since when were cyclists and drivers two mutually exclusive groups? It's so easy to ignore the fact that 80% of cyclist hold a driving licence and so easy to talk up a ‘them and us’ struggle” between cyclists and motorists.

Of course the term "militant cyclist" works beautifully for these "militant drivers" bunker mentality and it's not cyclists that talk about a struggle between cyclists and drivers when it's actually a struggle (if that's the right word) between cyclist and bad, inconsiderate, dangerous, selfish, etc... drivers, not drivers per se.

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Roulereo | 2 years ago
0 likes

The UK can be at least thankful you don't live in Melbourne Australia.

There, a Dictator named Dan Andrews has taken total power via emergency powers (shutting down parliament, using the Victoria Police to violently crush any opposition with any form of protest now being illegal, people posting on Facebook being arrested for 'incitement', etc.). 

Under the world's longest and harshest Lockdown, the Dictator has banned cycling for >10km from home. 

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kingleo | 2 years ago
0 likes

Breaking news: the Daily Dismail has reported that an army called The lycory has invaded the south coast - many town halls have been taken. General I B Courageous RAC, AA Said " they use strange battel formations, sometimes they are in a large group, sometimes they are in lots of small groups across the road and sometimes a small group is a long way in front of the main large group, they also use strange machines and wear special clothes that enable them to travel as swift as a horse all day. They are very fit tenacious fighters and never give in, the women are the same and battle alongside the men, indeed their leader is a woman called Queen Fearless the Great, a brilliant taction, she has won many battles in the mountains of Europe - her specialty". General I B Courageous RAC, AA also said, "they must be stopped and destroyed or the land of the great god Car will be gone forever".

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Jetmans Dad | 2 years ago
7 likes
Quote:

... a report last month paid for and produced by Fair Fuel UK described  motorists as “hard-pressed” and “perennially demonised,” and the victims of “political bias” in favour of cyclists.

So hard-pressed that society still subsidises motorists ability to drive on  the road by covering costs that go beyond the amounts raised by all motoring taxes combined.

Demonised because some of them don't care enough about other road users to drive carefully and safely around them, preferring to assert their "entitlement" to use the roads at everyone else's expense. 

And politics is inherently biased, and should be biased in favour of things that are more positive for society. There is a strong political bias towards renewable energy rather than fossil fuels, and towards active travel rather than constantly increasing levels of motorised travel ... as there should be. 

It is neither reasonable, nor responsible for society to be politically neutral on all issues, especially those where evidence points in favour of one thing over another. 

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RobD | 2 years ago
7 likes

That £100 Billion they've apparently helped people avoid paying would have been really helpful for funding the NHS and schools.

Fuel duty is one of the fairer taxes, if you use more fuel you pay more, simple as.

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brooksby replied to RobD | 2 years ago
3 likes
RobD wrote:

That £100 Billion they've apparently helped people avoid paying would have been really helpful for funding the NHS and schools.

Fuel duty is one of the fairer taxes, if you use more fuel you pay more, simple as.

Ah, but he doesn't think that motorists should have to pay for everything.  

(So he does apparently believe that the costs of motoring should be passed out as externalities, so he's happy for everyone else to part subsidise motorists and pay for cleaning up after them...).

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eburtthebike replied to RobD | 2 years ago
4 likes
RobD wrote:

That £100 Billion they've apparently helped people avoid paying would have been really helpful for funding the NHS and schools.

But the NHS doesn't need any more funding; they've got the £350m/week from Brexit.

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Fishpastesarnie | 2 years ago
4 likes

Perhaps it was the "Biker Mice From Mars" he has just the same amount of 'evidence' to show it was them.

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Rik Mayals unde... | 2 years ago
7 likes

Or maybe it could be a tree hugger, and such is his hatred for cyclists it seems logical to him to blame cyclists. Just another stick to beat the cyclists with. Knob.

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markieteeee replied to Rik Mayals underpants | 2 years ago
0 likes

Could be anyone but it wouldn't have worked if the militant motorists hadn't bought up all the petrol.

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0-0 | 2 years ago
4 likes

After reading this story, I've marked my local Council HQ as a Sperm Bank.
The perfect place to work, if you're a wanker 👌🍆

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Gus T | 2 years ago
15 likes

Troll gets trolled & cries about it.

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anke | 2 years ago
11 likes

What a beautiful prank!  3 

...but then, I'm probably a militant cyclist... Which is certainly a lot worse than helping to keep Britain dependent on middle-eastern oil exporting countries. So, no OPECxit with Mr Cox anytime soon...

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AlsoSomniloquism | 2 years ago
6 likes

How did they get his home phone number?

Edit: Just seen that his home address is posted on the FF website as contact details. Who does that in this day and age?

Another Edit: As somone pointed out, this is at least one month old, nothing to do about the present shortages apart from they have prompted people to search and look for fuel before setting out.

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mdavidford replied to AlsoSomniloquism | 2 years ago
1 like
AlsoSomniloquism wrote:

How did they get his home phone number?

They "hacked into [his] home address on @googlemaps"...

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HarryTrauts replied to AlsoSomniloquism | 2 years ago
11 likes

His Fair Fuel Website has his home address and mobile number published on it.  It's still there so he's not learnt anything from this experience.

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MattieKempy | 2 years ago
5 likes

Outstanding!

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brooksby | 2 years ago
3 likes
Quote:

"Party Parliamentary Group for Fair Fuel for UK Motorists and UK Hauliers entitled What does the 2030 fossil fuelled new vehicle sales ban really mean to the economy, environment, and UK’s 37m drivers?"

Well, that's a helluva title... 

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eburtthebike replied to brooksby | 2 years ago
4 likes
brooksby wrote:
Quote:

"Party Parliamentary Group for Fair Fuel for UK Motorists and UK Hauliers entitled What does the 2030 fossil fuelled new vehicle sales ban really mean to the economy, environment, and UK’s 37m drivers?"

Well, that's a helluva title... 

Snappy, but I'm going to use the abbreviation I've just discovered: tl/dr.

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mdavidford replied to brooksby | 2 years ago
2 likes
brooksby wrote:
Quote:

"Party Parliamentary Group for Fair Fuel for UK Motorists and UK Hauliers entitled What does the 2030 fossil fuelled new vehicle sales ban really mean to the economy, environment, and UK’s 37m drivers?"

Well, that's a helluva title... 

I'm assuming there's a colon missing before the subtitle, starting "What...". So the title is the statement

Quote:

Party Parliamentary Group for Fair Fuel for UK Motorists and UK Hauliers entitled

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Philh68 replied to brooksby | 2 years ago
4 likes

Shouldn't the word "entitled" be placed in front of UK motorists? That would make a lot more sense. 

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Yorkshie Whippet replied to Philh68 | 2 years ago
0 likes

No, as some of us see driving to be a privilege and sometimes a pleasure. 
 

Hauliers on the other hand do come across as should be entitled.

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Global Nomad | 2 years ago
0 likes

hmmm, perhaps he should have bought some  fuel and given it away to needy folk who arrived at his house....that would have been the charitable thing to do...or bought fuel and sold it a high mark up to fund his lobbying

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Captain Badger | 2 years ago
13 likes

Those militant cyclists. I expect it was the cycling taliban. Terrorists I tell you....

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SimoninSpalding replied to Captain Badger | 2 years ago
7 likes

As long as it isn't the Cyclist's Judean Front https://youtu.be/WboggjN_G-4

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Captain Badger replied to SimoninSpalding | 2 years ago
9 likes
SimoninSpalding wrote:

As long as it isn't the Cyclist's Judean Front https://youtu.be/WboggjN_G-4

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