Fuel prices spike in February

The price of petrol has gone up more than 3p a litre in the last three weeks while diesel has increased by 4p.

According to the RAC, unleaded rose by 3.2p from 140p on 29 January to 143.4p on 18 February and diesel prices increased from 148p to 152p in the same period

RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams said: “News that fuel prices have bottomed out and are now on the rise again is bad news for drivers, and possibly the economy and future inflation rates, too.

“While we’re not expecting prices to shoot up dramatically, it appears that oil is trading up, which means wholesale fuel costs more for retailers to buy in. The result is higher prices at the pump and more expense for the every-day driver.”

However, he is not expecting prices to rise substantially in the near future.

He said: “We ought not to see forecourt prices go up too much more from where they are today, but a lot depends on how much margin the biggest retailers decide to take. Positively for drivers, supermarket margins are lower than they were in January, but they are still significantly higher than they were prior to the pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.”