The price of diesel at the pump will very soon go north of £2 per litre and it will not stop there, an NI filling station owner has warned.
‘Relentless’ price rises for fuel mean filling stations are not making any money on fuel, according to Terry Hughes, who owns a filling station in the border area of Belleek, Co Fermanagh.
Speaking to Belfast Live, Terry said many stations would now be charging more than £2 per litre if they were to make any profits - but most don’t want to be seen to be the first to do so.
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Fuel prices have risen at record rates as the cost of living crisis continues to take hold across Northern Ireland.
Some filling stations are now seen to be selling diesel as much as £1.97 per litre and Terry said prices well over £2 will soon become the norm.
“It’s just relentless the price rises we have been going on over the last three or four weeks,” Terry told Belfast Live.
“We can’t be seen to be the dearest site so we’re holding the price until we see somebody else going up and then we might rise to that.
“The problem for us is by the time we raise those prices it’s already at another higher price, the margins on fuel are ridiculously tight at the minute.
“Coming from a fuel retailer it will probably not be believed but there are no fuel retailers out there making a killing at the minute - none of them.
“The price of fuel should technically be £2 per litre but every retailer is taking a hiding just to be seen not to be the first one at that price.
“It’s already at that price - it’s just that nobody wants to take that bit of margin but that’s where we are at.
Terry warned that the worst is yet to come in terms of fuel prices as we head towards the autumn.
“The worst is yet to hit - this is normally the time of year where you see diesel coming back a bit,” he added.
“Once we hit September and October and we haven’t seen any improvement in supply lines then that’s when the real pain is going to start to hit.
“I’ll be brutally honest - I bought a load of oil for £75,000 last weekend and I made £500 from it - it doesn’t sound like a great investment.
“That’s the reality of it. We’re trying to stay competitive with the others around us.
“If you bought yesterday it could be 5, 6 or 7p cheaper and it’s nearly impossible to judge when to buy at the moment because it’s jumping by an hour the same amount it might have jumped by an hour before.”
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