Unprecedented: UK petrol prices hit staggering 148p per litre for the first time ever
Petrol prices soared to record highs today, passing 148p per litre for the first time ever.
Motoring group AA said that petrol jumped to 148.02p, rising above the previous record high of 147.72p from November last year.
Meanwhile, the cost of diesel has also increased to a new record high of 151.57p.
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.”
Prices have soared on the back of wholesale fuel prices, which have jumped amid a resurgence in demand following the reopening of global economies, but have also been spurred in recent days by concerns that Russian tensions could have an impact on supply.
On Monday morning, Brent crude oil prices surged to a new seven-year high of $95.40 per barrel.
RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams said: “Petrol has unfortunately hit a frightening new high of 148.02p, which takes filling a 55-litre family car to an eye-watering £81.41.
“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.”
“With the oil price teetering on the brink of 100 dollars a barrel and retailers keen to pass on the increase in wholesale fuel quickly, new records could now be set on a daily basis in the coming weeks.”
RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams
Previously, the RAC has criticised the role of petrol retailers – particularly supermarkets – in driving up prices above rises in wholesale costs.
When prices previously hit record levels last November and in January, it warned them to not “contribute further to the crisis.”
However, it has now reported that retailer margins have returned to conventional rates.
He concluded: “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.”