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Petrol prices fall by 11p a litre but ‘savings should be bigger’

Joanna Faith
Written By:
Joanna Faith
Posted:
Updated:
20/04/2020

Petrol prices fell by 11p a litre in the last month, but retailers could be passing on larger savings to motorists, the AA says.

Average UK petrol pump prices have fallen from 121.28p a litre in mid-March to 110.40p this week, while average diesel prices have dropped 8.36p in the same period, from 124.00p to 115.64p.

However, the wholesale cost of fuel has fallen further, and the AA calculates petrol prices should be around £1 a litre, once fuel duty and VAT have been taken into account.

Since the first week of March, the price of oil has plummeted from above $50 a barrel to between $30 and $25.

Luke Bosdet, the AA’s fuel price spokesman, said: “Those representing the retailers say that pump prices need to stay high in the lockdown to compensate for lower sales volumes and avoid forecourt closures.”

Around 100 petrol filling stations across the UK have closed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, according to the Petrol Retailers Association.

The AA also found variations in pump prices across the country, with a tank of fuel costing £3.50 more in some rural parts of the UK than more populous regions.

Bosdet said: “It is likely that once Covid-19 is defeated there will be calls for a review of UK pump prices during the current oil and commodity fuel price crash, as there were in the years after the 2008 to 2012 price spikes.

“One of the questions will be whether it is purely coincidental that Northern Ireland with an effective consumer watchdog has the lowest pump prices in the UK?”