Petrol price drops – but we still pay too much

PETROL prices fell 5p a litre last month – the biggest drop in nearly four years, the latest figures show.

The average cost of unleaded is back to mid-May levels of about 130.61p a litre after dropping 5.18p in November, while diesel fell by 2.5p to 134.42p.

This equates to a saving of £2.85 on a typical family-sized car’s tank of unleaded fuel.

Oil prices have fallen by 24 per cent on the world market while, in the UK, supermarket price wars have also contributed to price cuts, said an RAC report.

Petrol prices are still up to 10p a litre higher than they should be as not all the savings have yet been passed on to drivers.

Simon Williams, of the RAC, said: ‘This should have translated to the average price of petrol being about 120p a litre but retailers chose not to pass on the savings, meaning the current average still remains unnecessarily high at 125.43p.

‘Petrol still ought to come down by 7p a litre in the next two weeks and diesel by 5p.’

He added: ‘We can only hope they are planning some cuts in the run-up to Christmas with a view to getting more shoppers into their stores.’