Staycation families are hit by petrol rip-off: Motorway services cash in on summer breaks with £10 price hike for a tank of fuel

• Motorway forecourts are charging 149.7p per litre of petrol and 153.7p for diesel
• They are often used by families travelling across the country for a staycation
• And average pump prices hit 135.3p a litre for unleaded last week in price rise

Motorists are being ripped off by petrol firms cashing in on the domestic holiday boom.

Retailers were accused of profiteering as it emerged that some motorway services are charging £10 above the national average for a tank of fuel.

Average pump prices hit 135.3p a litre for unleaded last week – the highest since September 2013 after 39 weeks of increases on forecourts.

Meanwhile, the price of diesel reached 136.6p a litre, the highest since November 2018.

The RAC estimates more than 29million car journeys will be made this summer for domestic getaways, with around 16million of these during the school holidays [File photo]

But analysis by the RAC has found that average pump prices at motorway forecourts, often used by families travelling across the country for a domestic holiday, were much higher at 149.7p a litre for petrol and 153.7p for diesel.

The AA accused some motorway forecourts of ramping up prices for the holiday rush, prompted by the start of the school summer holidays and the continued uncertainty over foreign travel.

A snapshot survey highlights the high prices at some motorway forecourts. Motorists using Leigh Delamere services on the M4 near Swindon were last week being charged 151.9p a litre for unleaded and 156.9p for diesel. 

This means it will cost £84 to fill up the average 55-litre tank on a family car with unleaded at the BP forecourt – £10 more than the average cost of a full tank.

The Welcome Break garage at Burtonwood services on the M62, between Manchester and Liverpool, charged the same amounts.

And the BP forecourt at Clacket Lane services on the M25, between Sevenoaks in Kent and Redhill in Surrey, was demanding 149.9p a litre for unleaded, as was the firm’s forecourt at South Mimms services in Potters Bar, between Watford and Cheshunt in Hertfordshire.

Edmund King, president of the AA, said: ‘Drivers are being hit with the highest petrol prices for eight years at a time when more people are using their cars for UK holidays. It is still worth shopping around as pump prices vary from expensive to rip-off.’

Fuel spokesman for the RAC, Simon Williams, said: ‘Drivers have had to endure nine months of rising petrol prices, adding 21p to the average cost of a litre, and it’s hard to see this coming to an end.

‘With so many depending on their vehicles, there’s really nothing drivers can do to escape the high prices. Our best advice is to drive as economically as possible to try to make each fill-up go further.’

Retailers were accused of profiteering as it emerged that some motorway services are charging £10 above the national average for a tank of fuel

The RAC estimates more than 29million car journeys will be made this summer for domestic getaways, with around 16million of these during the school holidays.

Department for Transport figures show car use surged past pre-pandemic levels – to 105 per cent – over the first weekend of the school break. The following weekend it hit 107 per cent of pre-pandemic levels. Pump prices have been rising since early November, when unleaded was on average 114p a litre and diesel 117.2p.

It means petrol has soared on average by 21.3p a litre, adding nearly £12 to the cost of filling up. For diesel cars, the average cost of filling up has increased by more than £10 since then.

Average pump prices hit lows of 106.7p and 111.9p for unleaded and diesel respectively in May last year because of plummeting demand due to the pandemic when traffic fell to levels last seen in the 1950s.

Shortly before, the global price of a barrel of oil plunged to around $13.20 (£9.38). But this week it hit $71 (£51.20). It is this surge which has driven the increase at the pumps.

Retailers claim they have also needed to raise prices in order to remain profitable and keep staff in work.

But Mr Williams said retailers weren’t playing fair with diesel drivers in particular.

He said this is because the fuel’s wholesale price has been around 3p to 4p a litre cheaper than wholesale petrol since the beginning of July, yet it has been priced on average up to 3p more than unleaded at the pumps.

Motorists were also fleeced last year, when retailers failed to pass on the fall in wholesale prices for several weeks.

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