The AA has called an urgent meeting with Treasury ministers to ask for next month’s 2p rise in fuel duty to be called off.
According to the association the price of petrol has dropped slightly over the past month but it still warned that drivers are struggling enough without a Government hike in prices.
Average UK petrol prices fell 90.88p to 90.56p between mid-February and mid-March, but overall average prices have risen 3.41p in 2009.
Any drops in price have been aggressively forced by supermarkets desperate to entice people onto their forecourts, forcing other retailers to follow suit. On average supermarkets are 1.4p cheaper than other petrol stations.
AA president Edmund King said: ‘On April 1, if the Government goes ahead with its fuel duty hike, it will join local authorities in conveniently forgetting that drivers also face the threat of severe financial hardship from the credit crunch.
‘On a wider scale, discussions the AA had with fellow European motoring clubs last summer on soaring fuel prices has led to correspondence with the EU's competition commissioner. The EU has now launched a probe of spot and wholesale fuel prices on the continent, which will be welcomed by UK drivers.
‘Many still can't understand why, even with a 30% loss in the value of the pound against the dollar, petrol is 90p a litre with oil at 45 dollars a barrel. In March 2007, the last time UK petrol cost 90p a litre, oil was priced at 68 dollars.’