Record petrol prices as forecourts f leece drivers
PETROL prices have hit a new record as it emerged yesterday some retailers are charging up to 17p a litre difference at forecourts just a few miles apart.
Average petrol prices were 167.6p a litre on Tuesday, the latest 24-hour period for which figures are available, up from the previous record of 167.3p on March 22.
Diesel prices also hit a new record of 180.9p a litre. It means filling the typical family car is now £92.20 for petrol and £99.50 for diesel.
It comes after Kwasi Kwarteng warned fuel retailers to give drivers a ‘fair deal’ or face legal action from the competition watchdog. The Business Secretary wrote to industry bosses on Tuesday night, saying there was anger among motorists because the Government’s 5p fuel duty cut announced in March ‘does not appear to have been passed through to forecourt prices in any visible or meaningful way’.
It was based on RAC analysis which showed retailers had failed to pass on nearly half of the cut. But Gordon Balmer, boss of the Petrol Retailers Association, said: ‘We have responded to the Secretary of State’s letter. We have reiterated that we agree on the need for the fuel duty cut to be passed on, and that our members have done so.
‘The RAC’s analysis omits crucial factors regarding the costs [of] operating a forecourt. We have offered to meet with the Secretary of State to... reiterate our view as to how the Government can best alleviate the burden on struggling motorists.’
AA analysis found retailers are charging wildly varied prices at their forecourts. The BP filling station at junction 13 of the M4 in Berkshire was charging 189.9p a litre for petrol yesterday. But a few miles away in Newbury it was 172.9p – a 17p difference, or £9.35 for filling up a typical family car.
In Basingstoke, one Texaco forecourt was charging 169.9p a litre for petrol while at another a mile or so away it was 165.9p.
The AA’s Luke Bosdet described it as a ‘postcode pump price lottery on steroids’. And RAC fuel supremo Simon Williams said drivers ‘haven’t seen the full benefit due to major retailers upping their margins’.