In 2011, Freewheelers spent £16,500 on petrol for their motorcycle fleet. 

The year started slowly with snow and ice restricting the use of our bikes. If we believed that the early weekly fuel bills of around £100 were to be the norm then we were in for a shock. Costs rose quickly, driven by higher pump prices and rising demand for our service from hospitals. By June our average weekly bill had risen to £400, with a record high of £568 on June 6th! For the rest of the year things settled down, but by the end our average bill was still around £350. 

Fuel accounts for about half the cost of running a vehicle. The rest is made up by mileage-dependent costs such as tyres and servicing, plus fixed costs like insurance and road tax. This means our total running costs for 2011 are over £30,000.

The graph shows the individual fuel bills together with a rolling average. (Click for larger version)