Diesel prices should have plummeted as ‘maverick’ forecourts slash costs

Average diesel pump prices have seen their second-biggest collapse over a month, with drivers seeing average costs drop to 152.59p per litre.

According to the latest AA Fuel Price Report, the price fall from mid-April to mid-May could have beaten the 2008 record had the fuel trade not clung on to savings from plummeting wholesale costs.

The wholesale cost of diesel has been cheaper than petrol since March 23 and was more than 5p a litre cheaper on Wednesday, May 17.

With fuel duty and VAT included in the price of these, the potential difference between the fuel types increases to 6p – 67.9p for petrol and 61.69p for diesel.

Despite this, many “maverick” independent forecourts are taking the lead in slashing costs for hard-pressed customers.

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Repeating what became a trend last summer, smaller filling stations are lowering the prices more in line with the wholesale prices, meaning drivers get a fairer deal.

Over the last week, one petrol station in Pembrokeshire had dropped its diesel price to 129.9p, earning the label “King of the Pumps”.

Meanwhile, in Northern Ireland, where drivers benefit from cheaper costs, 20 of 26 towns have a retailer selling diesel for less than £1.40 per litre.

Earlier this month, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) unveiled an update to the fuel market study, suggesting that there was weaker competition and a lack of desire to cut diesel prices.

The report update highlighted: “Fuel margins have increased across the retail market, but in particular for supermarkets.”

It adds that any price advantages that usually entice drivers to shop at supermarkets have been eroded recently.

Tesco, the supermarket with the biggest share of fuel volume (15.6 percent), now has the same average petrol price as Jet, a brand with just 1.9 percent of fuel volume share.

Luke Bosdet, the AA’s spokesperson for pump prices, said the blame for expensive petrol and diesel prices shouldn’t solely lie on the shoulders of the superstores.

He said: “Other retailers are not tied to supermarket prices and could charge less for their fuel. Instead, there has developed a localised cosy relationship between forecourts, where non-supermarket retailers peg their prices close to what a supermarket charges and vice versa.

“The maverick independents, minnows in comparison with the big non-supermarket chains, have shown what is possible with UK pump prices.

“If you’re lucky, you might find a competitive independent – usually on the outskirts of town. But too often you won’t as the majority follow the supermarkets’ lead.

“The only way out of this morass of uncompetitive fuel prices is pump price transparency – as the CMA recommended to the Government in October.”