Fuel price surge will continue, says Tesco

THE chief executive of Tesco has warned that the recent surge in fuel prices shows no sign of abating as he insisted the supermarket was not profiteering from the crisis.

As the supermarket giant reported £2bn in fuel sales in the 13 weeks to May 28 – up 44pc on a year earlier – Ken Murphy said: “I see no signs at this stage that there will be an easing of the pressure on fuel prices.”

He denied accusations of profiteering, however, insisting the firm was “strongly on the side of the customer”.

Despite wholesale prices falling back from their peak over the past fortnight, pump prices have hit new record highs. Petrol reached 187.51p a litre on Thursday, according to the AA. Compared to this time last year, filling the typical 55-litre car tank has leapt from £71.92 to £103.13.

Diesel now averages 194.17p a litre at the pump.

Wholesale prices are almost 9pc below their highs just before the Jubilee bank holiday, raising hopes that motorists could start to see their bills come down.

The AA said a failure by retailers to pass these savings on to motorists would be “nothing less than shameful”.

Luke Bosdet of the AA said: “A fortnight on from whole- sale prices starting to fall, these crippling pump price rises have yet to come to a halt, let alone go into reverse.”

Tesco’s warning of continued high fuel prices came as it revealed its overall sales were lower than expected in the first quarter as it grappled with surging inflation and tough comparisons against last year’s lockdownfuelled trading boost.

Mr Murphy said it was seeing “indications of changing customer behaviour as a result of the inflationary environment”, with basket sizes shrinking and switches to own-brand products.

But he stressed it was “too early” to predict how food inflation will change over the coming year, despite Institute of Grocery Distribution fore- casts that prices could jump by 15pc this summer.

Tesco reported a 1.5pc drop in UK sales in the first quarter. Overall sales rose 2pc to £13.6bn and were 9.9pc ahead of levels in 2019.