Britain’s most expensive petrol stations revealed: UK’s priciest forecourt is charging motorists 175.9p a litre – up to 45P more than the cheapest at 130.9p
- M6 Stafford motorway service area Esso and BP garage both charge 175.9p
- Cheapest is Sainsbury’s Wolverhampton at 130.9p, according to PetrolPrices
The price of fuel at petrol stations across Britain varies by 45p per litre, MailOnline can reveal today amid Government plans for a new pump price comparison service.
The UK’s most expensive sites for unleaded fuel are on the M6 Stafford motorway service area, where an Esso and BP garage on each carriageway both charge 175.9p. This is in stark contrast to the Sainsbury’s Wolverhampton where it is just 130.9p.
Data from analysts at existing comparison website PetrolPrices added that the UK’s average price of unleaded is now 142p, down 48p on the same time last year. They also said the average price of diesel now stands at 144p, down 54p in a year.
It comes after the Competition and Markets Authority watchdog recommended setting up a new comparison system to help drivers identify the cheapest garages.
The CMA said drivers paid nearly £1billion more for fuel at supermarkets last year, with average supermarket fuel margins up by 6p per litre between 2019 and 2022.
This graphic shows the most expensive locations for unleaded petrol in Britain at the moment
This graphic shows the most expensive sites for petrol that are not located on motorways
PetrolPrices said the UK’s next most expensive sites for unleaded petrol after the M6 Stafford stations are the Esso M42 Tamworth services in Staffordshire and Shell M1 Markham Vale services near Chesterfield in Derbyshire, which both charge 172.9p.
Priciest and cheapest fuel garages in Britain for unleaded petrol
MOST EXPENSIVE (ALL MOTORWAY)
MOST EXPENSIVE (NON-MOTORWAY)
CHEAPEST
Following that are the Esso M40 Cherwell Valley services in Oxfordshire and BP M61 Rivington services in Horwich, Greater Manchester, which both charge 171.9p.
However, there is much value to be found at petrol stations at the other end of the scale.
The cheapest in Britain after the Sainsbury’s in Wolverhampton is an Asda in the same city, at 131.7p. Behind that is a Tesco, also in Wolverhampton, at 131.9p.
Following that are three sites all at 132.7p – those being the Asda at Ashton-under-Lyne in Greater Manchester, Morrisons in nearby Dukinfield and Asda in Bishop Auckland, County Durham.
PetrolPrices, which sourced the data exclusively for MailOnline today, said the figures are no older than yesterday and some are from this morning.
It is understood that many of the major petrol station firms have a mixture of sites which are either owned by the company or operated by dealers.
The companies generally have no influence over what the latter charge, which is one of the reasons why drivers can often see very different prices between stations of the same brand within the same area.
Prices can vary between service stations for reasons including wholesale price, transporting the fuel to forecourts and service station operating costs.
Dealer-owned sites are also influenced by the bulk fuel price at the time they bought their stock and how long it takes them to work through their stock.
A BP spokeswoman told MailOnline today: ‘We aim to price fuels competitively and monitor the prices we set daily. We believe that our retail sites provide customers good value with high-quality fuels, convenience foods, cafes, and other services, all in highly convenient locations.’
She added that there are about 1,200 BP branded retail sites in the UK – and BP owns and operates just over 300 of these.
She continued: ‘BP only sets the pump price at these retail sites we operate, and we aim to price competitively with other sites in the local area. We monitor our fuel prices daily on a site-by-site basis.
‘Fuel prices take into account the local market conditions, cost of operations and the cost of delivering fuel to a particular retail site or area. In addition, taxes – duty and VAT – make up a significant proportion of price.
‘Around 900 of the 1200 BP branded sites are operated by independent dealers to whom we supply fuel and branding. At those sites, the price is decided by the operator not BP.’
MailOnline has also contacted Esso and and Shell for comment on the findings.
It comes after an investigation found drivers paid an estimated combined additional cost of £900million for fuel at Asda, Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons last year due to increased margins.
The CMA inquiry also found that an increase in margins on diesel across all fuel retailers cost drivers an extra 13p per litre during the first five months of this year.
In response to a recommendation in the report, the Government said it will introduce a new law forcing fuel retailers to make up-to-date pricing information available to third parties.
This is expected to lead to the creation of price comparison apps and websites, enabling drivers to find the cheapest fuel in their area.
The Government also pledged to hand new powers to a public organisation to ‘closely monitor’ pump prices and ‘alert’ ministers if further intervention is needed.
It intends to launch a consultation on the measures in the autumn.
Supermarket giant Asda was fined £60,000 by the CMA for failing to provide relevant information in a timely manner.
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CMA chief executive Sarah Cardell said: ‘Competition at the pump is not working as well as it should be and something needs to change swiftly to address this.
‘Drivers buying fuel at supermarkets in 2022 have paid around 6p per litre more than they would have done otherwise due to the four major supermarkets increasing their margins.
‘This will have had a greater impact on vulnerable people, particularly those in areas with less choice of fuel stations. We need to reignite competition among fuel retailers.’
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said: ‘It isn’t fair that businesses are refusing to pass on lower prices to protect their profits while working people struggle with balancing their budgets.
‘Consumers need to be treated fairly, and so we’re empowering drivers to find the best prices possible for their fuel by taking swift steps following the CMA’s recommendations.’
Energy Security Secretary Grant Shapps said: ‘Some fuel retailers have been using motorists as cash cows.
‘They jacked up their prices when fuel costs rocketed but failed to pass on savings now costs have fallen.
‘It cannot be right that at a time when families are struggling with rising living costs, retailers are prioritising their bottom line, putting upwards pressure on inflation and pocketing hundreds of millions of pounds at the expense of hardworking people.
‘Today I’m putting into action the CMA’s recommendations and standing by consumers. We’ll shine a light on rip-off retailers to drive down prices and make sure they’re held to account by putting into law new powers to increase transparency.’
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The AA claimed drivers have been ‘convinced’ for many years that pump prices ‘shoot up’ when costs rise but fall ‘much more slowly’ when costs decline.
The RAC said it is ‘extremely pleased’ that the Government is taking action.
An Asda spokesman said the fine related to ‘two individual alleged technical breaches’ in the way information was shared, and insisted ‘we engaged fulsomely’ with the inquiry.
All of the supermarkets said they welcomed the CMA’s recommendation to introduce a pump watch scheme and supported greater transparency on prices.
A PetrolPrices spokeswoman said: ‘There are wide variations across the UK for several reasons. At PetrolPrices.com we’ve been showing motorists the best places for fuel since 2005 to help combat those sometimes-unfair geographical differences.
‘Whilst we welcome the CMA’s report and are encouraged about the findings, as a free of charge service already the PetrolPrices website and app already exists without any expense to the taxpayer.
‘We hope the changes to how fuel stations must engage with data like ours continues the service we’ve provided for two decades.’
The company said that after yesterday’s CMA announcement, it had seen a 155 per cent increase in traffic from the previous day and ten times the number of new users sign up for its service.
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