PetrolPrices.com

OFT launch review of fuel prices

Hannah Bird — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 15:30:18 +0000

Today the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), the UK’s consumer and competition authority, announced they will be launching a review of petrol and diesel prices at UK forecourts. The main concern that has triggered this investigation is the price of fuel at the pump and how much it has increased over the years. According to PetrolPrices.com data, petrol prices have risen by 37% from an average price of 97.0 pence per litre in June 2007 to an average of 133.15 pence per litre in June 2012. Diesel rose by 42% in the same period with the average price leaping from 104.0 pence per litre in June 2007 to 147.3 pence per litre in June 2012. Last week the average price for petrol in the UK was 138.8 pence per litre and for diesel 152.1 pence per litre. Claire Hart, from OFT said: “We are keenly aware of continuing widespread concern about the pump price of petrol and diesel and we have heard a number of different claims about how the market is operating. “We have therefore decided to take a broad based look at this sector, to provide an opportunity for people to share their concerns and evidence with us. This will help us determine whether claims about competition problems are well-founded and whether any further action is warranted.” The OFT have invited the industry, motoring groups and consumer bodies to help them with their investigation and submit any information that may be of use for the review. A range of issues will be reviewed including consumer concern over the price of fuel in rural areas, the possible effect supermarkets and major oil companies are having on independent retailers and the possible lack of competition in the fuel industry. They also want to check whether the falling price of crude oil is actually being reflected in the price of fuel at the pump. The OFT plan on spending 6 weeks reviewing the information and releasing the results in January 2013. As soon as the results are released we will update you with their findings. We want to hear what you think of this investigation and whether you think it could have a positive effect on the motoring industry. You can find out more about the review here.

Future of PetrolPrices.com Survey Results

Annie — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 15:25:27 +0000

We would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who took the time to fill out our recent survey. We’ve had over 13,000 of you tell us all about the features you think would be useful as a motorist, what you find most frustrating as a motorist, and how you think we can improve our service for you. We are now going to use these results to help us plan our new feature releases and create a product which doesn’t only save you money on fuel prices, but saves you money across all of your motoring expenses. If you would like to see the full survey results, take a look at our colourful infographic below. (click the image to see the full size graphic.) Are the results as you expected?

When will we stop experiencing fuel price rage?

Hannah Bird — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 11:31:57 +0000

Fuel price rage is a common condition experienced by many motorists. There is currently no cure and it is becoming increasingly difficult to control. It all starts when you get into your car, head to the petrol station and start filling up with fuel. The symptoms start to show when you look up at the fuel counter and watch the ££s going up and up and up. The pump nozzle then clicks, you know the tank is full and you are left staring at the huge bill you are now expected to pay so that you can drive off the forecourt and get on with your day.

This rage isn’t a recent condition, it wasn’t triggered by the fuel price hikes since the recent recession, many motorist have had to deal with this rage for over 30 years now. In the early 1980’s, motorists became angry when petrol prices reached 36p per litre (£1 per litre in today’s terms) and many demanded price reductions. Since then the price of fuel has continued to soar, and it seems motorists haven’t been able to shake off that feeling of rage.

This year, motorists were expected to pay on average 142.4p per litre for Unleaded and 155.98p per litre for Diesel when fuel prices peaked back in April after the threat of strikes from tanker drivers. A bit of light relief came this month as motorists experienced prices dropping by more than an average of 4p per litre since mid May. This is the second month motorists have experienced a drop of this kind. However, many people still think the average 8p drop since April isn’t enough, and it’s simply the calm before the storm as the Chancellor is planning on increasing the duty on fuel by 3p per litre in August.

What’s the solution? If fuel prices are set to increase again in the coming months, how can you avoid experiencing further fuel price rage? Many motorists are campaigning to stop the planned fuel duty increase, arguing that if duty didn’t increase it would help businesses and stimulate growth in the economy. The government reply by claiming that if duty was not increased, interest rates would have to go up across the economy, and this would have a detrimental effect on society. A difficult conundrum; we need more disposable income to keep the country spending and if fuel duty goes up then there will be less disposable income, but if it stays the same the duty will be offset through inflation which will also mean less disposable income.

There seems to be no easy solution to bringing down the price of fuel, so, the only way sufferers of fuel price rage can reduce the symptoms, is to try and reduce their consumption of fuel. Although this is an impossible task for many who have no choice but to drive, there are a number of techniques you can put in place to keep your fuel consumption to a minimum. Read our tips on how to get more miles to the gallon when you drive and save money on fuel. You could also consider cycling to work or other destinations. Love to ride show you how enjoyable and beneficial it is to cycle more and cycling can considerably minimise the symptoms for fuel price rage sufferers.

Do you suffer from fuel price rage? Do you ever think it will end? What’s the best solution for reducing petrol prices and minimising symptoms for fuel rage sufferers?

Threat of Strikes Increase Prices At The Pumps

Annie — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 17:14:17 +0000

Last week motorists across the country were seen queueing up for fuel, forecourts were running dry and stations hiked their prices up. We wanted to find out exactly how much stations had increased their prices. Displayed on the map are the towns with the largest price increases for unleaded and diesel between Monday 26th March and Monday 2nd April.

As you can see the largest unleaded price jump was in Llanwrtyd Wells, Powys with an average increase of 10.1p. With such a large increase we expected them to be one of the most expensive in the country, but at 144p per litre they were only 2.2p above the national average on that day.

For diesel the largest increase was in Wigan, Lancashire where prices rose to an average of 152.9p per litre, an increase of 7p, followed closely by Plymouth, Devon with an increase of 6p.

On average the country saw an increase of 1.5p for unleaded and 0.9p increase for the price of diesel. Not all stations took advantage of the panic buying and some did not put their prices up.

These price hikes could have been a result of the panic buying triggered by the union Unite’s dispute with fuel tanker companies. Unite had threatened to strike if minimum conditions within the industry were not agreed upon and the general public went into panic mode and topped up where they could. Conciliation service, Acas, met with Unite today and the oil tanker companies to begin talks to prevent strike action, we are still waiting to hear the outcome. The union announced last week that planned strikes were not going to take place over the Easter weekend which was a huge relief for motorists planning on travelling the UK or visiting relatives during the period.

If talks do break down, and tanker drivers do go on strike, use our Petrol Tweets map to find out local news in your area, and let others know what’s happening.

PetrolPrices.com New ‘Petrol Tweets’ App

Neil Sweeney — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 16:34:55 +0000

Today we officially launch a new web app for PetrolPrices.com; a service that integrates with Twitter and Open MapQuest called Petrol Tweets that was inspired by the #uksnow Map. Petrol Tweets collects tweets with the hash-tag #ukpetrol or #petrol and adds it to our page allow. You can comment on petrol in your area using either your post code by adding it to the message box or geo-tagging (typically on a phone) your tweet. If you add your post code then Petrol Tweets will work out where you are and plot you on the map, or if you geo-tag your location to your tweet then it will find exactly where you are and add you to our map exactly where you are when you made the tweet. Find out more how to use it by visiting our how to guide. You can discuss anything; be it prices, offers or current affairs. It also allows a friendly way for those users without Twitter to see what people are saying about petrol right now rather than waiting to hear about it on the news. This app is currently in a beta stage, which means that it’s good enough for people to use but there might be some issues that occur so please bear with us if it does go wrong; you can help us make the app better by reporting any issues (contact details to follow). We hope this web app will help people find cheap fuel and start even more discussions with regards to petrol prices in the UK. If you have any questions regarding the Petrol Tweets app, suggestions or bugs then please contact us via the comments form, our Get Statisfaction account or our other methods listed on our contact us page.

Pressure eases for motorists as fuel tanker strikes are ruled out over Easter

Annie — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 17:12:30 +0000

As petrol prices continue to soar, now reaching £1.50 a litre for unleaded in some parts of the country, talks of strike action by the union Unite has caused panic buying across the country in the past few days. Talks between Unite and seven fuel companies are set to start next week and strikes over Easter have now been ruled out by the union.

This news should ease a lot of the pressure at the pumps and allow motorists to enjoy their Easter holidays without worrying they’ll end up stranded.

Drivers are responsible for 44 tonne road tanker which each holds up to 40,000 litres of petrol, they are among one of the most dangerous professions, with other dangerous jobs including fishermen, bomb disposal officers, gas rig workers and construction workers.

Conciliation service, Acas, are meeting with employers on Monday, and they hope to start talks with the union soon after. There are over 2000 Unite members who deliver fuel to over 8,000 forecourts. Unite want to negotiate a solution, but if talks breakdown and strikes do go ahead, then the whole oil supply chain may be affected, and oil rigs could even be forced to stop drilling. Unite members are calling for minimum working conditions and health and safety standards.

So what did these fuel companies have to say about the talks?

Wincanton told us they wanted to do all they could to avoid strike action and potential disruption to both forecourts and the general public. They also claimed there was no “beat the clock” culture among their employees as insinuated by Unite, and all of their ‘performance indicators on contracts are all around health and safety, rather than delivery times’ (Wincanton).

The fuel companies backed by the Road Haulage Association also disagreed with the allegations that there were major problems with the health and safety precautions at fuel companies. The RHA suggests the safety precautions in the UK are above and beyond industry expectations and BP told us the safe supply of fuel to forecourts will always be a ‘top priority’.

All of the fuel companies we spoke to wanted to reiterate that 7 days notice would have to be given IF industrial action was announced. They informed us they would take discussions seriously but they also wouldn’t bow down when threatened with industrial action. If the strikes do take place the fuel companies support the government’s decision to bring in the army.

Have you been affected by the recent panic buying? Do you think this is the last thing the UK needs right now or are fuel tank drivers right to want to take strike action if safety standards are really at risk? Have your say below…

The big 4 in a petrol price war

Joe — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 11:18:56 +0000

The four leading UK supermarkets: Tesco, Asda, Sainsburys and Morrisons have all recently slashed their fuel prices by around 3p per litre in response to the recent 10% drop in crude oil prices. This drop came after the International Energy Agency decided to release 60 million barrels of crude oil from the emergency reserves. As well as the 3p drop in fuel prices, Sainsburys also offered an extra 10p off a litre of fuel if you spent £60 or more in any of their many stores; this deal was available from the 29.06.11 to 03.07.11. Although this deal has now expired, Tesco has hit back with its own mega-savings fuel promotion. Tesco is offering up to 15p off per litre of fuel if you spend over £50 in store and also buy Princes Tuna Chunks and a 30 pack Coca Cola. For each product you buy you will receive a 5p off per litre voucher. If you buy both products and spend £50 in store, you will get three 5p off vouchers; you can use up to three vouchers each time you fill up. For more information on this promotion you can visit the Tesco website. Obviously, the additional vouchers available from purchasing the Tuna and/or Coke would only be worth it if you actually wanted the products in question. Tuna is currently on offer at £4 per can but the coke is £10 for the 30 pack so it might be worth just going for 10p off each litre if you’re not a dedicated coke drinker.

Save £2.00 when you fill up your tank, today only!

Joe — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 02:24:06 +0000

Garages across the UK are set to hike the price of filling up a tank of fuel, already at record highs, by a further £2.00 per tank tomorrow. These New Year price rises as a result of the hike in VAT from 17.5% to 20% combined with a planned duty rise will see an extra 4p being added to prices per litre to motor fuel. Petrol and Diesel drivers will both be affected by the moves. Not only have we seen this massive one off hike in the tax on fuel but it has hit us all at a time when the price of oil has been on the rise too. Oil now seems to have settled above 90 USD per barrel compared to highs of 80 USD through most of 2010. As a PetrolPrices.com member as long as you are using our daily emails or our iPhone App you should be used to saving £2 per fill up anyway but we wanted to give you a heads up so that you can save on this planned rise. Please tell us how this is affecting you. Have you had to change your driving habits? Are you expecting 2011 to be worse than 2010 for running your car? Do you think we should use the tax from fuel to help better prepare our roads for snow?

How to halve your fuel costs

Joe — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 11:54:38 +0000

It’s hard to believe that average fuel prices today are around 30p more per litre than they were just five years ago. Prices at the pump are still pretty painful for most of us – even if you find the cheapest in your local area. So to help you make your car journeys even more affordable, we’d like to tell you about the first ever car-sharing week. Read on, because this could have a very dramatic impact on your fuel expenses…! Car-sharing simply means finding someone else who is travelling the same way as you, so that you can take turns driving. If you think about it, sharing with just one other person effectively means leaving your car at home one week in every two. (Just imagine what sharing with two or three people would do to the frequency of your garage visits!). The easiest and best way we know to find car-sharers is via the free website, www.liftshare.com. Nearly 400,000 people have already signed up, and there are literally tens of thousands of journeys available for sharing. Liftshare Week (4-8 October) aims to reach thousands more people so that they can discover the many benefits of car-sharing. Like these happy guys…! Hundreds of new members are signing up to liftshare every day. So what better time than liftshare Week to give it a try too? Register for free in just five minutes – and you could save you many thousands of pounds over the coming years.

Petrol hits an all time high of £1.20 next stop £1.50?

Joe — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 11:39:19 +0000

In July 2008 we saw petrol hit a massive 119.7p. Back then, one British Pound would buy you two US Dollars. Today we expect the average price of one litre of Unleaded to have hit £1.20 (if you round it to two decimal places it’s actually already happened but to be precise it was 119.96p yesterday) and today’s figures will be available tomorrow around 12pm. During the financial crisis the UK has fared a lot worse with our currency weakening so much that today you can only get one and a half US dollars for every pound. This more than any other factor has caused higher pump prices over the past few years. We have seen fuel duty rises too but the impact of the exchange rate has been the single largest cause of rising pump prices lately. The second biggest culprit is oil prices and things are looking set to get worse with them starting to rise again and with Brent Crude at around $86 a barrel an 18 month high. Because the exchange rate is so important, the biggest threat to the price we pay at the pumps in the short term is actually what the financial markets make of the election. If they are worried about a hung parliament or the plans to reduce the deficit then the UK could have its credit rating downgraded. Were this to happen and the UK to lose its coveted AAA credit rating, then the money we are borrowing as a country will be seen as higher risk and the value of the pound in our pockets could plummet to new lows. With the price of oil on the rise as well we could even see the prices at the pumps hitting a massive £1.50 this summer! So we wanted to ask our members how is this affecting your lives? Does it feel worse now compared to July 2008? Are you driving less? Are you getting used to higher prices? Have you lost your job because of rising prices? Please tell us your experiences below.