Even though the price of petrol has gone down recently the same can’t be said about diesel prices in the UK. The AA have said that motorists have been paying £3 more than they should be to fill up their tank of petrol due to retailers not passing on the decrease in the price of oil. Retailers are thought to be paying the same wholesale price for diesel as they are for petrol according to the motoring organisation.
This means motorists have been paying around 6p more per litre of fuel which makes the average cost £65 rather than £62.
The President of the AA, Ed King said: “Cars are like blank cheques for whoever feels the need to balance the books by plundering drivers’ pockets. Motorists prop up the Treasury to the tune of 10 per cent of the UK’s total tax-take, and now the fuel retailers are taking £3 a tank extra on diesel to steady their finances.”
The AA stated that the average price diesel motorists pay has risen from 118.19p to 118.83p and petrol has also risen from 111.92p in March to 113.29 however, over the same time period the price of oil has fallen from $58.5 a barrel to $55.7 a barrel which is a 5% decrease.
The chief secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, delivered a warning to all supermarkets and companies informing them that they must apply the price cuts to diesel for motorists. He also wrote to all the top fuel suppliers ordering them to apply this change “as quickly as possible”.
Oil firms say that they have not been reflecting the price fall at their pumps. After these claims, the Serious Fraud Office has been carrying out some research to look into this. Motorists buying diesel cars have been appreciating the tax breaks due to diesel cars producing less carbon dioxide and being more fuel efficient.
However, this research wasn’t completely correct and Britain is now being sued by the European Commission. This is due to Britain breaching air pollution limits because of these diesel vehicles which were thought to be better for the environment.
As previously mentioned there is potentially going to be a ban on diesel cars in London however for the moment Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, wants to charge diesel drivers £10 to drive within London.
The Liberal Democrats want millions of petrol and diesel cars to be banned from the UK roads within the next 25 years with only ultra-low emission vehicles and electric cars to be allowed in the UK by 2040.
Lib Dem leader, Nick Clegg has said: “For the first time since the 1970s, Britain now sells more cars than it buys thanks to Vince Cable and the Liberal Democrats being in the driving seat at the Department for Business.
“However, we need to go further and faster in making Britain a world leader in low emission vehicles by providing the right incentives and infrastructure to attract green investment and green jobs.
“This isn’t just about re-balancing the economy, it’s also about tackling dangerous levels of air pollution that reduce average life expectancy by up to eight months.
“Our Liberal Democrat £100 million prize fund will spark a low emission car revolution in Britain and help to build a stronger and greener economy for years to come.”
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