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Motorists “being fleeced” by up to £15 per tank, FairFuelUK claims

Howard Cox, founder of FairFuelUK, said: "Wholesale diesel and petrol have barely moved – yet retail prices have soared and stayed high."

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UK motorists are paying £10 to £15 more per tank than wholesale fuel price trends justify, according to new analysis from FairFuelUK.

The campaign group analysed DESNZ monthly retail fuel prices alongside ONS refined-petroleum wholesale indices converted into pence per litre, and claimed that retail-wholesale margins have widened significantly over the past 12 months.

For diesel, FairFuelUK said wholesale prices increased by 1.2%, from 76.7p per litre to 77.6p, while retail prices rose 18.9%, from 153p to 182p.

The calculated margin increased by 36.8%, from 76.3p to 104.4p per litre.

For petrol, wholesale prices increased by 1.4%, from 62.3p per litre to 63.2p, while retail prices rose 12.2%, from 148p to 166p.

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FairFuelUK calculated that the margin increased by 20.0%, from 85.7p to 102.8p per litre.

Howard Cox, founder of FairFuelUK, said: “This data proves what drivers have known for years: pump prices shoot up like a rocket when wholesale rises, but drift down like a feather when wholesale falls.

“Wholesale diesel and petrol have barely moved – yet retail prices have soared and stayed high.

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“Motorists are being fleeced, and it’s time for full transparency and proper oversight.”

FairFuelUK attributed the widening margins to factors including what it described as ‘rocket-and-feather’ pricing, risk premiums, VAT, weaker competition, wholesale price opacity and increased retail margins.

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Cox said: “Since the Iran crisis began, more than 40 countries have stepped in to protect their drivers from global fuel volatility — cutting taxes, capping margins, enforcing transparency, or directly intervening to stabilise pump prices.

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“Yet here in the UK, motorists have been left completely exposed.

“The Government has done nothing meaningful to reduce pump prices, nothing to rein in inflated margins, and nothing to protect drivers from the rocket-and-feather rip-off that has become standard practice on our forecourts.”

FairFuelUK caalled for mandatory wholesale-retail price transparency, real-time margin reporting, independent oversight of pump pricing behaviour and a Competition and Markets Authority investigation into retail fuel margins.

It also wants fuel duty frozen for the lifetime of the current Parliament.

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Cox added: “Drivers deserve fair, transparent fuel pricing — not inflated margins.”

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