Doing this can cost around 10p a litre more in major cities (PA)
(Picture: PA Wire)Average UK petrol prices are back under £1.50 a litre for the first time since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, adding to hopes that inflation may have peaked and offering hard-pressed drivers some relief.
But the picture for London drivers may be less rosy. The AA, which tracks at-the-pump prcies, points out that there are big variations in price on forecourts in heavily populated or busier areas, including the capital.
The nationwide pump price is 149.74p, down by almost 42p a litre from its peak in July last year according to the motorists’ organisation’s numbers, which it calls “a huge relief for drivers”. The cost of filling the 55-litre tank of an average car is down by £23.
But there is anger that big city drivers could be missing out due to big price variations – of up to 10p a litre, or a quarter of the decline from the summer price peak. The warning come alongside a call for action from market watchdogs.
Luke Bosdet, the AA’s spokesman on pump prices, said: “How fuel stations in areas of big populations and high volume sales can charge well over 10p more for fuel than in largely rural parts of the UK is a question that the Competition and Markets Authority will have to address.”
He added: “The AA hopes that 2023 will be a year of transformation for fuel prices, where greater pump price transparency mirroring Northern Ireland’s Fuel Price Checker will direct motorists to retailers charging fair prices and re-invigorate the level of competition seen before the covid pandemic.”
The average Diesel price fell to 72.21p a litre, from 153.05p when the Russian invasion began and a record of 199.07p in July.
