Petrol prices hit a four-year high

MILLIONS of families driving off on their summer staycations will be ‘ hammered’ by petrol prices as they surge to a fouryear high.

Petrol has hit 129.71p per litre – the highest price since the middle of August 2014 and means it now costs almost £71.50 to fill up a typical family car.

Some retailers are charging more than £73 on average to fill up – with motorists heading off on holiday forced to pay more than £80 at some motorway service stations.

The surge in prices comes despite the price of oil falling since June from $80 to close to $70 a barrel.

The AA, which compiled the report, said anyone who has booked staycations following the glorious summer weather ‘will smell a rip off’ and warned millions of pounds that could be spent in shops, restaurants and family-run bed and breakfasts is being ‘siphoned off’ to the oil industry.

It said prices at the pumps have been propped up by the weakened pound. Because the price of oil is denominated in US dollars, a fall in the value of the pound makes it more expensive to buy for fuel retailers based in the UK.

Oil companies which refine the oil into fuel and commodity trading firms have also been able to charge more for it and take a bigger profit because of high demand. This has all fed through to higher prices at the pumps.

The average price of petrol has risen 1.2p per litre over the last month – or 66p to fill a typical 55 litre tank, according to the AA.

Petrol prices have risen by just under 13.2p per litre over the last year, pushing up the price of a tank by more than £7.

The average price of diesel has hit 132.46p a litre – or around £72.85 to fill up.

The Petrol Retailers Association was contacted for comment.