Motorists braced for petrol price rise
Motorists and hauliers face record diesel prices at the pumps, putting a further brake on economic recovery, after an unprecedented rise in wholesale costs over the festive period.
Iran’s threat of a blockade in the Straits of Hormuz and shutdowns at refineries contributed to a 4.5p per litre hike in the cost of diesel between December 19 and January 5, according to figures from RMI Petrol. That is before the imposition of 20pc VAT.
RMI, which represents almost 6,000 independently-owned filling stations across the UK, said the price rise was the “steepest and fastest” ever seen over the Christmas period.
With average diesel prices at the pumps close to 141p per litre, RMI said it would now only take forecourt retailers to pass on some of the extra wholesale costs to consumers for prices to top the 143p a litre peak they reached on May 9 last year.
Brian Madderson, RMI Petrol chairman, said the rise had been so rapid that retailers had had “scant time to react over the holidays”, with few so far raising their prices at the pumps. However, given fuel retailers’ “wafer thin” margins, he said they would have little option but to jack up prices over the coming days.
“I would expect them reluctantly to push these rises through,” he said. “That’s more pain for the consumer and for high-street retailers, who are already squealing that people are not spending in the shops because of the high cost of fuel. Higher diesel prices also feed into food prices because 80pc of our food moves by road.”
