‘The good Times of lower cost fuel appear To Be over’

The price of filling up your fuel tank is the highest it has ever been since 2014, according to the RAC.

And drivers in the South East of England are paying more for fuel per litre than anywhere else in the UK, with Kent motorists among them.

The average price for unleaded fuel per litre was 121.8p at the end of 2017, up by 0.5p in less than a month.

The average cost of diesel stood at 124.2p, up by half a point in the region.

But the good news is that by shopping around retailers in the city are pumping cheaper fuel.

Data from the petrol comparison site, petrolprices. com, reveals the 10 cheapest places to buy petrol and diesel in the county which was accurate on Monday, January 8.

In Canterbury, the cheapest was Morrisons in Wincheap which charged 116.6p per litre for unleaded and 119.7p for diesel. Countywide, the lowest prices were 115.7p for unleaded at Morrisons in Gravesend.

Second was Tesco, Ramsgate, at 115.9p, with Sainsbury’s in Thanet, Tesco Extra in Broadstairs and Sainsbury’s, Pepper Hill, Gravesend, charging the same.

After our branch of Morrisons was its branches in Sittingbourne at 116.7p per litre – the same as its branch in Walderslade. Asda in Canterbury and Sittingbourne both charge 117.7p.

The average price for unleaded in the county is 121.5p and the highest is reportedly 139.9p. And drivers got the best diesel offer at Morrisons in Sittingbourne which charges 118.7p with the Morrisons in Walderslade, Gravesend and the Asda in Gravesend.

Tesco in Ramsgate takes 118.9p with Sainsbury’s in Thanet, Tesco in Broadstairs and Sainsbury’s in Pepper Hill.

It then jumps to 119.7p for the next cheapest, at Morrisons in Canterbury and Sittingbourne’s Asda.

The average price for diesel in the county is 124.9p with the highest being 140.9p.

Founder of the Kent-based campaign group Fair Fuel UK, Howard Cox, said: “We’re seeing prices at the pumps rocketing.

“The prices we’re seeing will impact badly on businesses, the haulage industry, low-income families, small businesses and white van men.”

A spokesman for the RAC, Simon Williams, said: “December was the month oil reached its highest point for over two and a half years.

“It’s hard to see pump prices getting much cheaper in the early part of 2018.

“The good times of lower cost fuel appear to be over.”