Petrol stations in parts of the UK “cashed in” on the Christmas rail strikes by failing to pass on wholesale savings during the travel chaos, the AA has claimed.
Pump price averages in different parts of the country varied by a record of around 10p per litre on Boxing Day, when many people had no choice but to travel by car, according to data released by the roadside assistance firm show.
While motorists in the London and the South East were charged on average £1.55 and £1.54 per litre respectively, drivers in Northern Ireland paid just £1.45 a litre, pump price figures collected by the AA show.
This meant the cost of filling a 55-litre car came to around £85 in London and the South East compared to just over £79.50 in Northern Ireland, where consumers benefit from the Fuel Price Checker, an official price transparency tool said to promote competition.
The AA characterised the discrepancy as a “festive £5 bonus” for retailers able to “extract” the extra cash from motorists who do not have access to such data.
Drivers in Wales and Scotland were charged on average £1.49 per litre, or £82 for a full tank, while those in the North East, North West and Yorkshire and the Humber paid £1.50 to £1.52 a litre. In the West Midlands, East Midlands, and the South West prices averaged about £1.53.
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Commenting on the figures, Luke Bosdet, the AA’s spokesman on road fuel prices, said: “Drivers pay far less for their fuel where competition is stimulated by an official price transparency tool… or a retailer sees a big opportunity to grab trade because prices are artificially high. The first has a widespread effect and can transform pricing across whole areas [and] the second creates a lottery where millions of drivers can miss out.
“Christmas and Boxing Day brought this to a head. Hundreds of thousands of travellers were forced from the railways into their cars to go home to see families, go out to shop or celebrate or go to sporting events. This was probably a fuel sales bonanza for the forecourts.”
Mr Bosdet added: “While retailers in some areas of the UK slashed their pump prices because falls in wholesale costs allowed it, others cashed in on the Christmas traveller misery.”
Throughout 2022, drivers paid on average 32.5p a litre more for petrol than in 2021, pushing up the cost of filling a typical 55-litre family car nearly £18, from £73 to £91, according to AA figures.
Diesel averaged 42.4p more per litre in 2022, adding just under £34 to the cost of refuelling the 80-litre tank of a business van, bringing the total to £143.
i contacted the Petrol Retailers Association for comment.
