UK drivers overcharged £5m a day
The RAC has accused petrol retailers in the UK of not passing on a decrease in wholesales prices.
The price of unleaded petrol fell 2p across UK forecourts during December, but the RAC says it should have been 12p. It says retailers’ failure to reduce prices in line with wholesale costs saw them make a 16p a litre profit instead of the normal 6p, while UK drivers paid £5m more on fuel than they should have done every day in December.
The price of unleaded petrol dropped from 147.47p a litre to 145.48p, while diesel dropped by just under 2p a litre from 150.80p to 148.92p.
RAC spokesman Simon Williams said: “December was a rotten month for drivers as they were taken advantage of by retailers.”
However, Gordon Balmer, executive director of the Petrol Retailers Association, said: “December’s pump price data is less reliable because it is taken from fuel card transactions, and there have been far fewer of these transactions because of the reduction in business activity between Christmas and New Year.”
