Petrol prices to hit holiday travel

Drivers will pay an extra two pounds per 100 miles travelled this holiday weekend compared with last Easter, says the AA
12 April 2012

Record petrol and diesel prices will mean drivers paying an extra £2 for every 100 miles travelled this holiday weekend compared with Easter last year, the AA has said.

Average UK pump prices are now at 135.79p a litre for petrol and 141.99p for diesel.

Petrol has risen 2.91p a litre since mid-March, with diesel up 3.01p, while petrol has gone up 14.92p a litre since last Easter and diesel has risen 20.09p.

The AA added that compared with a year ago, a typical 50-litre tank refill now costs £7.46 more for petrol and £10.05 more for diesel. A two-car family is spending £31.68 a month more on petrol.

South-east England and Northern Ireland are currently the most expensive places for petrol, with both regions averaging 136.3p a litre. The most expensive diesel is in Scotland at 142.8p a litre.

Yorkshire and Humberside has the cheapest petrol, at 135.1p a litre on average, and it also has the least expensive diesel, at 141.5p a litre.

AA president Edmund King said: "The pain of soaring fuel prices that have plagued UK families through the winter is now being felt by the summer tourism and leisure industry.

"With almost every car heading into the West Country, Wales, Scotland and other domestic holiday destinations losing at least £2 in potential tourist spending to the fuel pump, the impact of austerity on business is ratcheted up another notch."

He added: "Our main beef this month is with pump and wholesale petrol prices at record levels yet oil is substantially cheaper than in 2008 when wholesale petrol last peaked.

"With oil and wholesale fuel both traded in dollars, exchange rates are not a factor. Someone seems to be making substantially more money from lower raw material costs and it is time something is done about it."

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