Record fuel prices across the UK have left people in the south of England searching for ways to cope, which is a bit like searching for ways to cope with gravity. Earlier this week, the RAC said diesel prices in the UK had reached an all-time high of 199.33p per litre, with petrol also rising, due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. The RAC noted diesel had entered "uncharted territory" and served as a reminder of "just how exposed the UK is to events occurring far away," which is a polite way of saying the global economy is a house of cards in a wind tunnel.

Diesel prices have risen by just under 40% since the US-Israel conflict with Iran erupted at the end of February. One garage manager from Berkshire said he had noticed a change in customer behaviour, with customers more likely to put £20 of fuel in rather than fill their tanks, presumably because they enjoy the suspense of watching the needle drop.

Meanwhile, the MS Centre Dorset, a small charity helping people with multiple sclerosis, said it would have to find ways to cut costs, as it was now costing an extra £2,000 a year to run a key minibus service. The charity runs a fleet of five minibuses, helping users across the county get to its base in West Parley. Manager Diana Logan-Watts said diesel prices had "rocketed so quickly" that the extra costs were "not something that we had budgeted into account." She said the centre would "keep on keeping on" despite the vast cost increases, and ensure users could still get to the centre. "But these rising costs have a knock-on effect, and we don't want to put additional prices and costs onto our members who are already struggling with the cost of living," she said. "So we have to try and absorb those costs elsewhere, and one of those ways is thinking more closely about the additional services that we're able to offer, like trips. These make a real positive difference to our members lives, but will have to be looked at in more depth and ask where the money's going to come from."

It's not just charities feeling the pinch. Southampton taxi driver Neil McLean asked "what can we do?" about the soaring costs. "We've got to earn a living, and none of us are happy," he said. "It's not putting money in our pockets, it's taking money out of our pockets - and it needs to stop." David Price, who owns Southampton-based DCP Haulage, said if things did not improve he would have to look at "parking up trucks" or "actually downscaling." "We just can't physically afford the fuel prices, we're looking an extra £250 a week per vehicle," Price said. "We have downscaled a lot lately and we have talked about packing it all up. It's not worth it with these prices - you're just not making any money."

Ian Govier manages the Littlewick Green Motor Company garage in Maidenhead, and said his costs had "gone up dramatically over the years." "Ten years ago, we'd look at having [a profit margin of] 6p a litre, now I really need close to 15p a litre to still have the same profit," he said. He said he had also spotted customers' habits changing, including more using cash as a way to "control their budgets." "We are definitely seeing instead of putting your normal £50 pounds in to fill up, a lot of people are now sticking in £10, £20," he said. Amid the increase in costs, Govier said he was also having to tackle thefts - with some using illegal "ghost" registrations to prevent cameras from reading their number plates. He said he had been forced to invest in a new camera system to tackle such thefts, which also "eats into profits." "If you don't have a profit you can't invest in the cameras, you can't invest in your staff, you can't invest in people," he added.

Speaking at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool on Monday, the Chancellor said the time for the government to deal with questions around rising fuel costs would be the Budget - near the end of October. John Healey told BBC Radio 5 Live: "I'm acutely concerned and conscious about how hard it is for families. I see that at the pumps myself. We can't remove the cost of living pressures, we can't remove the prices that people are having to pay, but where we can we will act and we will give people just a bit of breathing space, and the same goes for the cost to business." Which is reassuring, in the way that being told the life raft will arrive sometime after October is reassuring.