Forecourts facing price probe if they fail to give drivers ‘fair deal’
KWASI Kwarteng has warned petrol retailers to give drivers ‘a fair deal’ or face a probe by the competition watchdog.
In a letter to industry bosses, the Business Secretary said drivers were ‘rightly frustrated’ that pump prices were back at record levels.
He said anger has grown because the Government’s 5p fuel duty cut, which was announced in March, ‘does not appear to have been passed through to forecourt prices in any visible or meaningful way’. The letter added: ‘My officials recently engaged the Competition and Markets Authority about this issue... [which] will not hesitate to use their powers to act against petrol stations if there is evidence that they are infringing competition or consumer law.’ It comes as average diesel prices hit a new record on Monday of 180.32p a litre.
Petrol is also poised to overtake the all-time high of 16 .3p set in March.
This week it was 166.8p a litre on average, meaning a fill-up costs nearly £92.