Angry drivers accuse petrol stations of hiking fuel prices
Angry drivers warn they’ll be ‘priced off the road’ as they accuse petrol stations of hiking fuel prices to as high as £1.54 a litre – amid warnings £1.35 national average could rise by 10p in a week
Motorists are accusing some petrol stations of taking advantage of desperation TV star Paul Chuckle claim actual cost is different to the price displayed outside Others say price was put up while they were waiting in queues over the weekendFuel experts expect pump prices will rise 3 to 10p per litre over next few weeks** Seen a very high petrol price today? Please email: tips@dailymail.com **
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Motorists today accused some petrol stations in Britain of taking advantage of their desperation to fill up their cars by putting up prices as panic buying continued.
Some drivers including children’s TV star Paul Chuckle even claimed that the cost was different to that displayed outside or went up while they were waiting in queues.
Fuel experts said they expect pump prices will rise 3 to 10p per litre over the next few weeks – with the biggest hikes in recent days happening in rural areas.
Dozens of cars snaked back in lines from petrol stations across the country over the weekend, swallowing up supplies and forcing many petrol stations to simply close.
Drivers also claimed diesel prices had gone up by as much as 8p in a few days, while others said some petrol stations were turning off their digital price display boards.
The latest data for average UK fuel prices from Experian Catalist was 136.69p for petrol last Friday, up from the latest official Government figure of 134.86p last week.
Howard Cox, founder of the FairFuelUK Campaign, told MailOnline: ‘On average I am hearing via FairFuelUK Supporters, that price increases, 5p to 10p increases are the norm in the last few days.
‘For example I’m hearing in Ashford, Kent they were all queuing up for fuel at one filling station on the A20 in Maidstone on Saturday, they put their prices up to £1.48 a litre to profiteer from it.
‘Shell in particular are selling at £1.479, Texaco £1.459. Supermarkets remain at about £1.33. Ironically it seems petrol is the one being hiked most hitting ordinary families, with diesel less so.
‘Several garages have contacted FairFuelUK in confidence, saying their greedy wholesalers are pushing up bulk supply prices, not based on oil costs, but because of this latest panic demand.
‘Opportunism at its lowest. Some are saying there will have to be longer term rationing causing more conflicts at their pumps. Totally unnecessary, as there is no fuel supply issue, just that perennial pre warned driver shortage.’
Motoring experts at The AA said retailers individually increase the price to either try to deter those topping up their tanks unnecessarily, or try to recover some of the lost income from drivers buying fuel only and not shopping within the store.
A spokesman said: ‘At some point, many of the retailers decide to cap the amount people can buy in one go. It normally dials down the frenzy but it can put shop staff in a difficult position as some customers try their luck or get argumentative.’
Blackburn-based petrol station retail group EG made a company-imposed limit of £30 per customer, which The AA said may have taken some of the pressure off staff.
Motorists wait for fuel in Ascot, Berkshire, this morning which is charging 143.8p for petrol
Vehicles queue to refill at a Texaco petrol station in London today as panic buying continues
In the winter of 2010, heavy snow impacted fuel supplies in Scotland, which led to panic buying – but all forecourts across Glasgow then declared a £20 limit.
Chuckle, star of BBC show ChuckleVision, tweeted on Saturday: ‘Texaco A1 advertise £1-39 per litre outside, come to pay and it’s £1-54,99p per litre. Disgusting. Oh dear, oh dear, not like me to rant. Boris Johnson, please get lorry drivers back.’
Texaco declined to comment when approached by MailOnline last night. Other drivers also claimed that petrol stations had put up their prices in recent days.
Among them was Callum Dunlop, a 24-year-old electrical engineer, who tweeted yesterday: ‘I filled up my car (diesel) at 137.9 a couple of weeks ago.
‘Two nights ago when panic buying started prices had risen to 149.9 in the same garage, last night that same garage was charging 157.9 with petrol seeing a similar price hike.’
Another, John Pile, said: ‘I came across a petrol station yesterday where the queue wasn’t bad (7-8 minutes), so I joined it and filled up.
‘While there, the queue extended miles down the road as word obviously spread it was accessible. They then put the price up. Just proves people are causing hysteria.’
And a third tweeted: ‘I’ve noticed petrol stations are turning the price display off so you don’t know how much they are charging until you lift the pump.’
A fourth said: ‘Pushing prices up even further too. Went past one of those ‘budget’ stations yesterday and it was dearer than my usual ultimate premium petrol. Going to price people off the road, even if there is enough left.’
The Prime Minister is said to be considering whether to call in soldiers to deliver fuel to petrol stations as pumps ran dry after days of panic buying.
Emergency measures were triggered yesterday evening, with Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng choosing to suspend competition laws for the fuel industry to allow suppliers to target filling stations running low.
This official Government graph shows the rise in petrol prices over the past year to 134.86p
People push as a car, which has run out of petrol, the final few meters on to the forecourt as vehicles queue to refill at a Texaco fuel station in South London last night
Boris Johnson will today mull whether to follow that by taking the drastic step of sending in the Army to drive oil tankers as ‘frenzied buying’ added to fuel supply issues caused by a lack of HGV drivers.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has refused to rule out requesting military assistance after queues for the pumps continued across the UK at the weekend.
Mr Shapps has already backed down over his reluctance to import foreign labour to solve the HGV driver shortage by creating 5,000 three-month visas to bring in extra hauliers to address delivery pressures.
The Petrol Retailers Association told MailOnline it was unable to comment on the issue because decisions on prices at the pumps are made be individual sites.
** Seen a very high petrol price today? Please email: tips@dailymail.com **
