Prices at the pumps have been soaring in recent months due to the war in Russia and bottlenecks in supply chains. Latest data shows that petrol prices have reached a new record high, taking the cost of filling up a car at £100.
With fuel prices hitting new fresh highs every few days in recent weeks, average petrol prices are the highest ever at £2 a litre in parts of the UK, figures show.
This is a further increase on the last record price set just days ago as the supply dries up at a time when demand is starting to gain speed, and the largest daily jump in 17 years.
The average cost to fill a 55-litre family car with unleaded petrol is now around £100, according to the RAC, with prices still likely to continue increasing. It’s almost £104 for a tank of diesel.
“The relentless run of record fuel prices continued over the bank holiday with the average price of petrol rocketing,” RAC fuel spokesperson Simon Williams says.
The cost of unleaded was now “frightening”, he said, with more bad news on the way. He called on chancellor Rishi Sunak to do more to tackle rising fuel costs.
Rising petrol and diesel prices are, in part, being caused by climbing oil prices. This comes after EU leaders agreed to cut 90% of oil imports from Russia by the end of 2022, imposing the bloc’s most punishing sanction yet on Russia since its invasion of Ukraine in March.
But prices at the pump are also being driven by a shortage of petrol and diesel, types of refined crude oil.
“More radical government intervention is urgently needed, whether that’s in the form of a further reduction in fuel duty or a VAT cut,” said Mr Williams.
“As it is, drivers surely won’t be able to cope unless something is done to help. This is fast becoming a national crisis for the country’s 32 million car drivers as well as countless businesses.”
Fuel retailers failing to pass on the fuel duty cut could be named and shamed, Downing Street has indicated.
