Motorway Services '£5 A Tank Rip-Off'

RAC accuses motorway services of not reducing fuel in line with oil prices

By Oli S / Thursday, 14 August 2008 / Loading comments

Motorway services are ripping-off drivers by adding more than £5 to the cost of a tank of fuel, according to the RAC. Pump prices are often 10p a litre higher on average than supermarkets, the organisation found.

This equates to an extra £5.26 on top of the cost of filling a 55-litre tank. The RAC is now calling on motorway service stations to reduce their prices in line with falling crude oil costs.

RAC research found that seven M1 motorway services charged around 120.9p a litre for unleaded and 133p for diesel. Supermarkets however are charging as little as 111.2p for unleaded and 123.7p for diesel.

RAC spokeswoman Louise Zucchi: 'Drivers are getting a raw deal. Most service stations have the infrastructure and buying power of supermarkets like Asda – which led the recent price cuts at supermarket pumps and has now introduced a fuel pricing policy – but they don’t seem to be using that commercial strength to help motorists. We hope motorway service station operators will consider what more they could do to ease the pain at the pumps.'