UK pump prices have hit a four-year high this Christmas

Drivers are facing the highest pump prices since 2013 this Christmas.

According to the AA, people travelling more than 200 miles to be with their families on Christmas Day will be forced to spend £5 more on petrol if they fill up on the motorway, as opposed to a supermarket.

Petrol averaged 120.69p per litre in the middle of this week, as compared to 115.8p per litre last year.

Read more: London consumers are set to splash out on Boxing Day sales

At Christmas in 2015 and 2014, prices were at 103.4p and 115.8p respectively.

A 200-mile trip from London to Manchester this Christmas will typically cost £26.47 from an Asda fuel pump (116.59p a litre) but could be as much as £31.08 from an M25 motorway service area pump (136.9p a litre), according to the AA’s research.

Edmund King, the AA’s president, said the government should bring in new measures to help drivers.

“Travellers under pressure, whether during work hours or heavy-traffic periods such as the Christmas getaway, feel abused,” he said.

“This could change next year if the government stands up for the people who elect them and introduces the pump price transparency and competition championed across Europe – information systems that led to Austrian petrol prices falling by as much as 3.6 per cent and diesel costs down between 1.5 per cent and 2.5 per cent.”