Supermarkets should cut at least 2p per litre off the price of petrol and diesel amid falling wholesale costs, according to a motoring organisation.
The RAC claimed there is scope for a reduction in pump prices because the cost of a barrel of oil has plummeted to 61 US dollars – the lowest price since mid-November last year.
It warned that a fuel price cut of up to 2p per litre by supermarkets last week only reduced their UK average by 1p because of regional pricing models.
The firm’s fuel spokesman, Simon Williams, said: “In order to be fair to motorists the big four supermarket fuel retailers should really make further cuts as the wholesale price is still falling.
“We hope they are not resting on their laurels, thinking they’ve done enough to keep motorists quiet by announcing some cuts last week when the wholesale price continues to go lower and lower.”
Average prices across all UK forecourts stand at £1.22 for unleaded and £1.24 for diesel.
Mr Williams said the policy of some supermarkets not to offer the same prices to motorists wherever they are in the country means many other retailers do not have to respond to cuts.
He added: “We believe this is why the UK average fuel price hasn’t gone down as much as it really should have.”
He urged all fuel retailers to reduce their prices, although he accepted this would be harder for smaller operators which deal with lower volumes.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here