Fuel retailers overcharged during lockdown

New analysis has found that drivers overpaid for petrol and diesel following lockdown, as retailers raised profit margins instead of setting a fair price.

This is according to Which?, which found that average margins increased by 8p a litre – from 10p to 18p – as the wholesale price of oil plummeted in the early weeks of the pandemic.

Now the RAC is urging retailers to end the practice of passing on savings.

RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams said: “We badly need greater transparency in fuel retailing so that drivers pay a fair price for their petrol and diesel wherever they choose to fill up.

“When wholesale prices fall, savings should be passed on to drivers straightaway but it often takes a week or more for these to be reflected at the pumps whereas any wholesale price increases are passed on daily. These ‘rocket and feather’ tactics have to disappear for good.”

Williams added: “While the RAC has long called for fairer pump prices, we had sympathy for smaller fuel retailers charging higher prices during the lockdown with so many drivers confined to their homes for so long.

“Were these operators to shut up shop for good the country would be far worse off, so we think many drivers won’t have objected to paying more for their fuel to help keep these valuable businesses trading, especially considering how few miles they were doing at the time.”

Which? editor Harry Rose said: “There really is no excuse for some larger retailers to be keeping savings for themselves during the pandemic. For customers to be charged fairly at the pumps, wholesale savings must be passed on.”