September 2008 Car News - GBCarLoans.com

17th September 2008

Oil prices crash but petrol prices barely fall

Even though oil prices crashing through the $100-a-barrel mark, petrol prices have barely fallen in a month. Meanwhile political pressure on fuel suppliers and retailers grows in UK regions and the EU.

Petrol prices across the UK fell by just one quarter of a penny over the past month, from 113.15 pence per litre in mid-August to 112.88 in mid-September. The average price of diesel dropped 1.32 pence per litre, from 125.58 to 124.26, closing the price gap between petrol and diesel to 11.38 pence.

A drop of four pence per litre for petrol and six pence for diesel in coming weeks is predicted by the AA.

Across half the UK, including Scotland, the North, Wales and the South West, the average price of petrol has gone down by a mere tenth of a penny. Ther are still wide variations between regional prices. In London petrol costs nearly two pence a litre more than in Yorkshire, Humberside and the North West.

Says AA Spokesman Edmund King "The country has already had a taste of falling wholesale prices not being passed on quickly enough to beleaguered UK consumers this summer. We hope that it is not just one supermarket playing it straight with car-owning customers this time."

He adds: "The reaction in Northern Ireland to neighbouring towns charging 2p or more for petrol mirrors the protest by the Inverness MP in July to petrol being more expensive than down the road in Elgin. On the Continent, our colleagues in other motoring organisations are losing patience with fuel suppliers and retailers. From the AA's perspective, we see two solutions: either a transparent track of wholesale prices matched against pump prices, or the creation of a government fuel price regulator to monitor the market."

 

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