A minister has told drivers to use their "consumer power" to lower fuel costs as it was revealed shoppers were being hit by a record Christmas getaway price hike.
Current petrol prices are 7p higher for petrol and 27p more for diesel compared with this time last year.
It means millions of motorists driving home for Christmas are paying an extra £20 for filling a typical 55-litre family car with petrol and £31 more for diesel than they were two years ago.
It comes despite the wholesale price of petrol being the same as it was in 2021, while diesel is just 14p more per litre, according to analysis from the RAC.
The Government's 5p per litre cut in fuel duty introduced in March also remains in place, but does not appear to have been passed on to consumers by many garages.
Food, Farming and Fisheries Minister Mark Spencer said supermarkets have "got to try and look after their customers".
He told Times Radio: "But I would say to those customers, shop around to look around for the best deals.
“Use the power of your pay packet, if you like, to drive down that cost and if you move your custom to places where it is a low price, and there's lots of independent petrol retailers now that are actually lower than the supermarket prices, you know, use that, use your consumer power to drive those prices down again."
The RAC said motorists are being "heartlessly overcharged" and called on supermarkets to "give drivers the Christmas present they deserve" by cutting fuel prices.
The motoring group believes the average price of litres of petrol and diesel should be cut by around 15p and 13p respectively.
RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams said: "With the cost-of-living crisis making this one of the toughest Christmases on record, it is even more galling to know drivers are being heartlessly overcharged for fuel, making this the most expensive ever festive getaway on the roads.
"The big four supermarkets, which dominate UK fuel retailing, have robustly refused to significantly lower their forecourt prices to reflect what's happened with the substantial reduction in the price of wholesale fuel that they are enjoying."
Average fuel prices reached record highs of 192p per litre for petrol and 199p per litre for diesel in July, partly due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
