Sainsbury's customers are having to fork out extra cash to use one of the supermarket giant's popular services. A new 50p charge has been introduced for people who want to pump their tyres up at a Sainsbury's petrol station.
The new price brings the retailer in line with competitors including ASDA, Tesco and Morrisons, who were already charging 50p for the service. The previous cost at Sainsbury's was 30p for three minutes and, although the new 50p for five minutes charge means that drivers are still paying 10p a minute, it means an increase in the minimum amount they have to spend.
A spokesperson from Sainsbury's told The Mirror: "Back in July, we started offering customers five minutes rather than the previous offer of three minutes, with each minute remaining at 10p per minute. This is in line with the wider market offering and based on customer feedback."
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Drivers should aim to check their tyre pressure every two weeks as driving with them over or under inflated can be dangerous, the AA recommends. The update comes after the boss of Sainsbury's warned shoppers are "watching every penny and every pound" as food prices continue to rise.
Chief Executive Simon Roberts said life is "tough for millions of households" who are also battling against sky-high energy bills. The supermarket recently revealed its pre-tax profits fell by 8% to £340million after being hit by higher costs and higher wages. Sales rose by 4.4% to £16.4billion in the six months ending in September.
Mr Roberts said: "We know [customers] are relying on us to keep food prices as low as we can. We will have invested more than £500million by March 2023 in keeping prices lower by cutting our costs at a faster rate than our competitors, meaning we have more firepower to battle inflation.
"Over the past year and a half we have consistently passed on less price inflation than our competitors and I am confident we have never been better value."
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