Fill‘em up
Rush at the pumps this weekend to beat rise in petrol and diesel prices
DRIVERS are being urged to fill up their fuel tanks this weekend as petrol prices are set to rise after oil hit a two-year high.
Figures from the RAC show oil has topped $60 a barrel for the first time since July 2015, raising fears that motorists will be hammered at the pumps.
And it warned car owners to brace themselves for an increase as early as next week as retailers look to pass on the 4p-a-litre hike in wholesale prices.
On average, drivers are paying 118.17p a litre for unleaded fuel while those driving diesel cars have already seen the cost jump from 120.21p a litre to 120.8p month-on-month.
But a barrel of oil has leapt 9% in a month from $55.98 to $60.98 meaning a squeeze on motorists’ budgets is “imminent” the RAC said.
Simon Wi l l iams, RAC fuel spokesman, added: “It’s very worrying – we would expect a rise of a penny or so a litre. While it’s difficult to predict how much petrol will go up by, it will go up next week so filling up this weekend is not a bad idea. “At the start of October there was a 6p saving in the wholesale price of unleaded which retailers eventually passed on to motorists in pump price reductions. This month, however, the situation is reversed and the petrol wholesale price has gone up. “Inevitably, this increase will be passed on to motorists on the forecourt more quickly than the cuts were made last month. That is the nature of fuel retailing – pass on wholesale rises quickly and cling on to savings as long as possible.” With Chancellor Philip Hammond’s Autumn Budget fewer than three weeks away, the RAC is urging him to freeze fuel duty. Mr Williams said: “Eyes will switch to the Chancellor this month, and with higher wholesale costs filtering down to the forecourts, the last thing they’ll want to see is an increase in fuel duty. We urge the him to resist this.”