Petrol and diesel prices hit record high

British drivers are facing even greater bills as petrol and diesel prices have reached a new record high.

According to the AA, both petrol and diesel were the most expensive they’ve ever been yesterday (Sunday, Feb 13), with the average price of petrol being 148.02p per litre – meaning filling a 55-litre family car would cost £81.41.

Meanwhile, diesel hit 151.57p per litre, meaning to fuel a 55-litre car would cost an average of £88.36. It passed the previous record of 151.10p per litre set on November 21, 2021.

Luke Bosdet, the AA’s fuel price spokesman, said: “The cost of living crisis has been ratcheted up yet another notch, tightening the vice on family spending when it faces other pressures from impending domestic energy cost and tax increases.”

Fuel prices climbed dramatically towards the end of the year, as a shortage of supply at the pumps and of petrol and diesel delivery drivers forced retailers to put their prices up. While the cost of petrol and diesel had started to plateau, with the price of oil reaching close to $100 a barrel, the RAC has warned that ‘new records could now be set on a daily basis in the coming weeks’.

RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams said: “The oil price is rising due to tensions between Russia – the world’s third biggest oil producer – and Ukraine, along with oil production remaining out of kilter with demand as the world emerges from the pandemic. As a result drivers in the UK could be in for an even worse ride as pump prices look certain to go up even more.

“On a positive note, retailer margins – which were the reason drivers paid overly high prices in December and January – have now returned to more normal levels of around 7p a litre. We urge the big four supermarkets, which dominate fuel sales, to play fair with drivers and not to make a bad situation on the forecourt any worse by upping their margins again.”