My wife and I are both disabled and use our small car to attend hospitals in Farnborough Kent and Croydon.   Petrol in the country garages is always more expensive than London - when London was 99p per litre we were paying £1.06.   We have only one food shop in Westerham and must travel 7 to 10 miles to our nearest Supermarkets.   We have not taken a holiday since October 2005 and our car mileage for the past 12 months was less than 7000 miles.  The Chancellor is collecting at least 74p out of every litre we pay.  Why can't he grant a special consession for all registered disabled who have to travel for treatment and survival?.  

I served as a regular army officer for 26 years.  My stomach and spleen were removed 5 years ago due to the long term effect of atomic radiation whilst my wife and I were stationed in Hiroshima Japan in the Army of Occupation after the war,    I have physically wasted away from 16 stone to only 9 stone and need extra heating day and night.

My wife is a life time diabetic and paralysed following a stroke 4 years ago and is confined to a wheel chair.   She is gradually learning to speak again and has attended hospital once or twice each week for the past 4  years.    We are grateful for the Christmas fuel bonus but the cost of everything as a result of this budget will greatly increase our plight.    Major Alan Taylor-Smith

I think it is time that the powers that be got out of their ivory tower and really took time to see what it is like trying to survive at ground level !

I sympathise and empathise with your plight. We too live in a rural area and need to have our own transport we get no extra help from the government because we lived frugal lives and tried to provide for ourselves. My husband has heart trouble and I am crippled with arthritis we both have to make regular visits to hospitals the nearest is 25miles away and the furthest 75miles. We too find the cost of fuel stretches our budget to the limit. As does trying to keep warm. We don't have central heating and rely on one coal fire and electric radiator's this year we haven't been able to heat our bedroom. Our nearest supermarkets are 14 miles to a small one and 25 miles to  one of the larger ones. This budget is as usual ignoring the plight of impoverished pensioners who have ruined their health working hard and defending the country. It seems all our contributions are being wasted on those too lazy to work and keep themselves. If we could afford it we would leave Britain for good it is not the great country it once was. What a sad state of affairs.