On Thursday, caused by Asda’s decision to lower petrol by two pence per litre (ppl) and diesel by 3ppl, competing supermarkets were quick to announce they would match the reductions.
Call me cynical, but I don’t believe these rival grocery store giants when they declared that their reason for reducing the cost of fuel came from them trying to make driving less expensive for their patrons and the AA agrees.
In the AA report
In a recent report, the motoring organisation says supermarkets design these often termed fuel price ‘wars’ to increase sales and called them ‘shams’ for bolstering sales.
The AA adds that not only do these often insignificant markdowns seldom last long (less so when the retailers feel the reduced prices affecting their returns), they don’t always offer much of a saving to motorists.
Using new figures from the government’s Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS), the AA states that while retail volumes for petrol dropped by 1.1% between April and June 2019, sales at supermarket forecourts increased by 4.4%. The average sale of diesel decreased by 1.9% but fell just 0.5% at supermarket pumps. The AA’s report suggests that’s because motorists are ‘clinging to the hope that the superstores will be their saviours’ from steep fuel costs.
In the earlier fuel price war of Friday the 13th of last month, supermarkets announced they would reduce petrol by up to 3ppl. This followed the $8 fall in the cost of a barrel of oil, which lowered retailers’ wholesale costs. The following day saw drone strikes on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, ending in burning oil fields.
By the Sunday, the proposed 3ppl cut only averaged 0.5ppl off petrol and the inevitable hike in the cost of oil pushed up filling-station prices by the Thursday, resulting in not even a whole week of lower petrol prices for motorists.
In the first week of October last year, profit margins for retailers averaged 7.2ppl, with a 7.8ppl profit 12 months earlier. The AA calculated an average 9.5ppl retailers’ profit margins for last week and their Fuel Price Report recorded average forecourt prices stayed between 127.8-129.2ppl for 17 weeks. This implies that while the attractive price war stories grab our attention, what many of us don’t notice are the days after where pump costs begin a steady increase.
| Petrol comparison by brand (14/10/19) | This month (pence per litre) | Last month (ppl) | Price change (ppl) |
| Asda | 123.59 | 123.09 | 0.50 |
| BP | 130.45 | 130.42 | 0.03 |
| Esso | 128.39 | 123.57 | -0.18 |
| Jet | 127.49 | 127.90 | -0.41 |
| Morrisons | 125.08 | 124.08 | 1.00 |
| Murco | 129.28 | 130.35 | -1.07 |
| Sainsbury’s | 124.89 | 124.13 | 0.76 |
| Shell | 130.1 | 129.96 | 0.14 |
| Tesco | 124.27 | 123.85 | 0.42 |
| Texaco | 128.17 | 128.25 | -0.08 |
| UK average | 127.58 | 127.77 | -0.19 |
| Diesel comparison by brand (14/10/19) | This month (pence per litre) | Last month (ppl) | Price change (ppl) |
| Asda | 127.39 | 126.14 | 1.25 |
| BP | 134.47 | 133.93 | 0.54 |
| Esso | 132.6 | 132.07 | 0.53 |
| Jet | 131.48 | 131.13 | 0.35 |
| Morrisons | 129.26 | 128.22 | 1.04 |
| Murco | 132.8 | 132.43 | 0.37 |
| Sainsbury’s | 128.73 | 128.01 | 0.72 |
| Shell | 134.45 | 132.96 | 1.49 |
| Tesco | 128.44 | 128.25 | 0.19 |
| Texaco | 131.94 | 131.43 | 0.51 |
| UK average | 131.55 | 131.26 | 0.29 |
No competition
The variation in the average cost of petrol and diesel between supermarket retailers looks closer than it is on the ground in many communities across the UK, according to the AA. In fact, their data shows that just on Tuesday—along the M4 Berkshire/Hampshire corridor—prices differed by as much as 5ppl.
Likewise, in Scotland; a Tesco forecourt in Stirling was charging 3ppl more for petrol than the Tesco forecourt in a town less than a 20-minute drive away.
The AA report said that ‘when uncompetitive superstores allow neighbouring oil company-branded sites to charge more (and often the same price as towns with no supermarket presence at all), customers and communities lose out significantly.’
Luke Bosdet, the AA’s fuel price spokesman, said:
‘When you drive out into the country, through small market towns without supermarket fuel, and see pump prices little different from those in towns with a supermarket forecourt, you know something is broken with road fuel pricing in the UK.
‘A neighbouring supermarket will then charge the same or a penny less a litre and claim to be value for money—even though it’s getting £2 or so more per tank of fuel than at other locations.
‘The sad thing is that customers seem to be buying it, as official statistics confirm.’
Asda has a nationwide price cap and, in locations with Asda forecourts, the AA found petrol and diesel was cheaper. For example, in Basingstoke and Newbury, who don’t have an Asda, other supermarkets charged a lot more for fuel than in Reading, which has an Asda. Morrisons prices were 3.2ppl more, while Sainsbury’s and Tesco charged over 4ppl more than the price at Asda.
Speaking to This is Money, an Asda spokesperson said:
‘When we cut fuel prices, we always announce what our national price cap is, meaning drivers know exactly the maximum amount they are paying regardless of where they live.
‘No other retailer does this, meaning they are free to charge as much as they like when they have no competition close by such as an Asda. This is what the AA are referring to . . . .’
The spokesperson added:
‘On the rare occasion when a lower price is available within a local area, our aim is to match that price locally so customers can rest assured they’re always getting the best value when filling up their tanks with Asda.’:
Driving down prices
Helping you to save money is the aim of PetrolPrices.com and, while we can’t control the price of petrol and diesel (alas), we can help you find where the cheapest retailers are in your location, so join over 2.1 million UK motorists who already take advantage of our free fuel comparison service.
The common, average price-spreads by town show member savings of £225.94 per year for petrol car owners (£495 saving on super unleaded) and £158.25 each year for our diesel drivers (£289.29 saving on premium diesel).
Sign up to our PetrolPrices.com money-saving community using your email address to search for the cheapest or nearest forecourts by searching by postcode, town, or city—you can also filter by individual brands and fuel types.
Need fuel prices while on the road? No problem! Download our FREE mobile app and take us along with you. Earn points by reporting fuel prices and give feedback on local petrol stations to help others decide which station is best for them. There’s much more to discover when you become part of the community whose aim is to change the industry for the better!
Do you benefit during fuel ‘price wars’? Have you noticed pump prices soon creeping back up to normal? Do these supermarket fuel discounts encourage you to shop in-store? Or do you avoid supermarket branded fuel altogether? Tell us in the comments.
It’s annoying enough to see the way they manipulate prices on petrol and diesel, but the thing most people miss is that they also hike their already greedy prices of products on supermarket shelves when the price of oil goes up as this Increases delivery costs. But when the price oil falls they never reduce the prices of these products on the shelves. In scamming their customers in this way they are in effect, devaluing the money their customers have to spend on their shopping.
If you truly want lower fuel costs demand the government slash its 70+% tax they levy on fuel BEFORE VAT!! Till then you will remain an ever increasing CASH COW
the key reason I bought an electric car was to avoid that. insane prices caused by government that refuses to live within its means.
The government, whichever is in power, will soon put vehicle duty on electric vehicles, as they are losing revenue and that will not satisfy the bean counters in the treasury.
Government lowering tax then supermarkets would find a way of cashing in and we would still be cash cows .The motorist is the country’s best way of making money You have an idiot sitting behind a desk ?? What can we get out of the motorist today Parking Greenways average speed cameras bus lane fines Sitting with engine running fine
Time has now come for all to purchase a donkey or top of the range A horse .Government would still find a way of giving us a speeding or parking ticket
The government would tax you for the methane produced by the donkey or horse!
And just how do you think the NHS is funded? Magic beans? And education, roads, pensions etc?
How about… cutting the number of both local and national politicians? and thier secretaries, admin teams PR guys etc….. The locl councillors in my area claimed over £800,000 in expenses for their “voluntary posts… and we all know how good the thieves at Westminster are at lining thier pockets with expenses, second house etc.
The only thing that’s left free, is the air that we breathe. But I bet if the government wanted, they would tax that as well. Income tax, VAT on everything we buy, inheritance tax, capital gains tax, fuel duty, VAT on fuel, VAT on fuel duty, road tax, Council Tax ……. (what else have I missed?)
.. and what would you like them to tax instead? Food? Gas? Electricity? It’s no good saying reduce a tax without suggesting where you’d like the cuts in services to be made or where you want the tax increased in order to compensate.
I’ve always wondered if the quality is the same at supermarkets as at the local BP or Esso ie is it a false economy if you get less mpg?
I have a Citroen Belingo. I put £65 of diesel and got just over 500 miles from it, NOT so from Tesco.
Morrisons, Sainsbury, Tesco and Esso get their petrol from the same place, Greenergy, which is partly owned by Morrisons, so the petrol is exactly the same.
Regrettably that is completely untrue, whilst the raw fuel may well be exactly the same, the fuel with its additives supplied by the branded fuel retailers is NEVER available from supermarkets.
From my own tests over several months I can state that when I use Tesco momentum 99 ron petrol I get on average 7 miles more per gallon than if I use Shell V- power 98 ron or BP ultimate 98 ron.
If I use Morrisons 95 ron fuel i.e. standard unleaded I get 14 miles per gallon less yes 14 miles per gallon less from my Ford Kuga. I have done these tests for over a year now.
I do not change the way that I drive according to where I’ve filled up but to be fair to all fuel stations you must take into account the weather i.e. if it is cold or wet and windy you will get less mpg this is a fact no matter what fuel you are using and it would be far too simple to imply that because you do the same journey week in week out that it’s just the fuel that you’re using is solely responsible for your mpg. It is not, your environmental conditions from the time that you fill your car until the next fill up have a huge impact on your mpg.
I hope this helps.
I think that cold weather gives better performance, not worse. The air drawn in by the engine is more dense, so contains more oxygen resulting in more power.
Air temperatures will effect running yes but,its when the air is heaviest that the engine performes the best,ie when its wet or humid,or both. i also agree with the petrol from tesco millenium super unleaded running further and better. but dont use superunleaded on whats supposed to use 95 octane,it can overtime damage the valves. its fine if the engine is mean to run on higher octane fuel. does anyone remember national petrol? that was 100octane
Damage the valves??? That’s complete rubbish. You can’t do damage by using a higher octane.
yes you can. it did on my m motor bike a long time ago mind in the late 50ts.
It does for sure, I used to tune turbo-engined cars and the best performance by far was on a foggy autumn day, the cool dense water laden air made them noticeably faster with a better charge and the cool wet air cooled the intercoolers better too – the only problem was you could not see very well
Wow, this is interesting! I keenly monitor my fuel consuption and note the gentle graph waveform I get from summer to winter as I’m using the heater and lights more, there is 4 to 5mpg difference. I often run little tests to see if I can make a difference by driving differently etc but putting higher RON fuel in never occurred to me! I am going to give that a try on the next few tanks! Cheers!
So 98/99 Ron burns more efficiently than 95? Well, who could have guessed!
I have tried using diesel from a bp garage rather than supermarket and have found that I get more mpg and the car engine runs much quieter. The fuel cost me 2 p more than the local supermarket. Interestingly we gave Asda , Morrison’s and Sainsbury petrol forcourts locally. Morrison’s are constantly upping the price but because the others don’t follow they have to reduce it again.
The quality is exactly the same, whether you buy from a supermarket forecourt, or a petrol company forecourt. It’s a bit like a branded pharmaceutical product and a generic product (think Nurofen/ibuprofen, Viagra/sildenafil, etc). As far as petrol or diesel goes, the detergents that are put in to help clean your engine are probably the same – the only difference is in the percentage of detergent added. For example, Asda petrol may have 2% fuel additive, whereas BP Ultimate may have 2.2%, etc. Note that the petrol you put in your car is 5% biofuel. The presence of this biofuel has no detrimental effect on engine performance. Neither does the amount of detergent added to the fuel.
Much guesswork there – nearly all wrong though!
The base fuel is the same …. but the additive pack is different and it’s probable that branded fuel such as BP or Shell will have a far superior blend of additives. I always use BP Regular, but add a fuel enhancer additive (Archoil) to every tank full. This effectively converts the Regular Fuel to a Premium Fuel (Ultimate in BP terminology) for a fraction of the price. As I drive a diesel then I will do all that I can to prolong the life of the DPF, and quality of fuel and additives cannot be underestimated.
Well done,Neil,im one of those horrible rip off merchants that owns a fuel station in mid Wales.When the Safeway shop etc,opened in 1995,(September,i think?),my sales went down by a third.By Xmas,sales were almost back to normal! Enuff said!
My local Sainsbury’s at Lyons Farm, Worthing was selling unleaded at 123.9 before ASDA announced a reduction. Having announced they would follow suit the price went up to 124.4 for a day before “reducing” back down to 123.9.
Disgraceful behaviour by Sainsbury’s.
Are Vauxhalls sensitive? I’ve had one petrol Vectra and a diesel one. Neither liked supermarket fuel. When it was older, the petrol one kept stalling when I used Sainsbury’s fuel. When I got the diesel I tried Tesco fuel. The engine started running roughly almost immediately. Both problems were cured by switching back to premium fuel. I’ve never put supermarket fuel in my car since
Good for you,Derek.Support your local branded sites(while you can?),bcos if they close,you know what will happen then!!
Don’t k ow why you had preas it’s all the same stuff
Must be the way your fuel system is set up. I’ve had all versions of Astras, both petrol and diesel since they were first brought to market.
All regularly serviced and never had a problem with fuels. I currently have a 1.4 petrol Astra Tourer and with 150psi on tap and driven in all types of weather and road conditions I still make 50.8 mpg.
Sure, not as good as a diesel but certainly best Astra yet. All my 7 different marks have never let me down and some I’ve driven over 140,000 miles. Never bought new either as the depreciation is too great.
It will be my last bought car though as things are changing so fast I’m loath to buy another until electric rules.
PS: I always use supermarket fuel.
It seems a bit rich to criticise the supermarkets here?
If it weren’t for them we would all be paying the high prices the BPs and Shells of this world charge……aim your criticisms at them, I would suggest…… the supermarkets have at least brought a degree of competition into the market.
Then again, you might aim your focus at the high levels of tax the government hits us with.
The supermarkets have been “the motorists’ friend” on petrol prices for years….. and no, I don’t and never have worked for a supermarket!
I have an independent Esso station, currently selling a penny below Tesco on unleaded and 2p on diesel.
(Tesco are currently running one of their favourite turnover increasing scams (10p off a litre ) They are also selling the most expensive fuel in town!!
“Every Little Helps”
If you go out your way to fill up from a filling station that is a penny cheaper than one nearer, then you don’t save anything as you spend the amount you save on fuel on the journey.
If Asda and Sainsbury are selling petrol at the same price I use Sainsbury as they give you nectar points you also don’t pay to pump up your tires. Other petrol stations rip you off by charging for air some as much as £2.
I also don’t fall for these supermarket promotions of 10p off as they count on you spending more instore to get a few pennies of your fuel. Unless you are actually going to spend £60 it’s not worth spending more as unless your tank is empty you don’t save much as they often more expensive than before the promotion. I noticed that Tesco was 2ppl more than Asada or Sainsbury and I had to go out my way to fill up.
My normal weekly shop at Tesco is always more than £60, and my local Tesco usually has the cheapest fuel in the area. No problem there, and I get Tesco points on both the fuel itself and my Tesco credit card.
Call it what you will, but remember Tescos, Sainsburys Morrisons, Asda, are very big business all in it to make money for their shareholders that what they are there for. They are not consumer charities. All they are doing is shifting a saving on one item (fuel) onto something else in store. That £60 shop to get a 10p of a litre in Tesco at the moment has got to be paid for somewhere.
I’ve noticed a variance of around 5ppl in my area, between the local Asda and the nearby BP station. In a 40 ltr tank, that is only a saving of £2, but since I fill up at least once a week, I’m saving over £100 annually by fuelling up at Asda.
The thing that annoys me is that Brand X petrol varies in price over different locations. These companies cite transportation costs, but if the likes of Boots can charge the same price for, say, a bottle of shampoo in all of its branches (whether in Inverness or Plymouth), then I don’t see where the petroleum company argument stands up!
There still 0.5p a litre to high , robbing the English public
Surprised the government hasn’t got a grips to this ,just to busy squabbling around brexit !!
Think they need to look at doing away with the .9p, .7p ,?p per litre as that’s where we are been robbed. put exactly 1 ltr of fuel in the car and if teh price advertised is 123.9 per litre you get charged 124 nice little earner there
How can they charge .9 pence when there is no such currency. Just another scam!
Chris: You advance a stupid argument. Do you really put only 1 litre of fuel in your vehicle at a time? I suggest that if you are annoyed by the price charged per litre of fuel not being an integer number of pence then buy by cost rather than by volume. An alternative way around your concern if you indeed insist on buying by volume rather than price is to buy an integer multiple of 10 litres at a time.
It’s very wrong to be charged VAT @ 20% on fuel duty ? I thought VAT is charged on goods not tax
How can this be explained ???
In my 1961 BSA 650cc motorcycle, I put Tesco Momentum 99 (£1.28ppl) plus an octane booster/lead additive which boosts it to around RON101 – goes like stink with no knocking!! The Citigo and Octavia diesel run fine on supermarket fuel, no advantage from branded fuels for me. To be honest, the fuel today is awful whatever you buy.
The Esso unleaded price is incorrect in the chart
The fuel coming from refinaries is the same the only difference between supermarket and main brand is supermarkets do not put addatives in their fuel. I personally prefer Shell fuel. The simple fact about British life is everything is overpriced., Wait for the seasonal sales to start and wonder to yourself as all shops out to make money they can still make a profit by slashing the price of a TV from 1999.99 to 1299.99 nuff said
If you think prices are high in U.K. then I suggest you go to the Netherlands, and you will find that fuel and most other things are far higher than in the U.K.
Or Norway, about £8 for a small beer.
Yes… And so are the wages
Only use supermarket fuel and have driven UK wide on business for years. Supermarket price wars are a complete sham, though what can motorists do? Sensible ones use these apps to ensure best price and the supermarket wins again.
Challenging the Govt to make regional pricing fairer won’t work as they are the motorists greatest enemy.. So who becomes the motoring Tzar and break this surely illegal cartel?
Tesco in Worcester reduced the price of diesel by 1p – big deal – from £1.27 to £1.26 they didn’t reduce their prices the last time a price cut was going ahead by th big supermarkets
Is supermarket fuel exactly the same quality as ‘branded’ fuel?
Yes but branded has more additives.
No it doesn’t its the same.
When I worked at Shell Haven refinery in Essex, I used to watch the tankers filling up.
Tankers from Shell, B.P. Sainsburys, Total, Tesco even Mobil ( who have a refinery at Coryton next door) and various others. They all put the same fuel from the same tanks in. There is no difference.
Maybe the AA should be targeting the two main enemies of the car driving public, that being the oil producers and the government. With the oil producers, they will use any excuse to push up the price of fuel, even when it is contradictory. If it’s hot, the price has to go up, if’s it cold, the price has to go up. If it’s wet, if it’s dry, if uncle Fred has a cold… any f**king excuse. The other culprit is the government. We pay nearly 80% ‘duty’ on fuel, and then we pay another 20% VAT on top of that. Every pound you earn is taxed when you get it, and taxed when you spend it.
It has to be like this Sean. The majority of fuel use will be to get normal folk to from work. If we didn’t pay a huge amount of tax on the fuel duty then where would all the money that the government need to ensure their female American “friends” get to cash in on grants etc? The wealthy may then have to pay tax instead of hiding their wealth abroad. That would never do. The tax situation in the UK cold be sorted out in a couple of weeks making it fair and honest. Why hasn’t it happened? Because the wealthy are running the show. You wouldn’t expect a turkey to vote for Christmas would you! Oh, and our MP’s are useless money grabbing shits too.
I avoid cheap supermarket fuel as there seems to be little additives in to reduce emissions or extend mileage, we are taxed to death on fuel, whenever barrel of oil prices drop we never see this, the government should reduce the tax on fuel and slice the price right down, we are the most expensive fuel anywhere, shocking, yet we still pay these taxes, shop at Costco, it’s better quality and much cheaper. Rant over
Fuel Is far dearer in Holland than here in the U.K. Come to think of it so are most other things too. Even their health service is totally financed by private health insurance. Even if you are 99 years old, you must buy your own health insurance, which costs around €1,500 pa.
Remember supermarkets are not there to give us motorist a good deal there are there to make a profit and some of us have realised that sometimes their fuel is not suitable for some of our vehicles with people saying my vehicle does not run very well with supermarket fuel. You get what you pay for no more no less, a free gift is never that.
To fill my 55 litre tank at the supermarket will probably save me around £1.50 give or take. But by carrying around the extra weight of all that fuel (equivalent to an extra passenger) any savings will soon be wiped out. Why bother especially for a miserly £1.50 ?
Great idea – but who wants to be at the petrol station putting a couple of litres in every day ? I just fill it up. I’ve better things to do with my time.
55 Litres of petrol weighs about 41kg so about half an average passenger – for a full tank. How many punctures do you get? Why not take out your spare wheel and jack to save weight?
Our local Morrisons store in North Shropshire last week reduced the petrol prices by 2p/ litre, by Friday this week the price had risen by 1p/litre. They have always robbed us locals compared to other Morrisons stores.
I want to know why is SHELL and BP fuel is much dearer that other petrol and diesel and states it better for its’s additions when neither own there own refineries but buy their fuel from many different places as all other fuel retailers do
Shell & British Petroleum both own refineries and oil wells. Buy a few shares in BP (5% dividend) and request the hard copy of the annual report. You will be amazed.
Not in the UK they don’t!
Who seriously thinks that a few pence off a litre of fuel will make anyone drive more.
Supermarkets are selling fuel at ‘reduced’ prices to attract customers in the hope that they will buy their other, more profitable, goods.
Not sure where you get the figures for BP stations, because they’re consistently more expensive for fuel than just about everyone else. For instance, I passed a BP station at Buckland this afternoon, & their Diesel was £1.39.9/ltr. Its a wonder they ever sell any!
129.9 at Coggeshall Rd. Braintree.
I have a BP station here in Middleton, North Manchester who have been competative and sometimes cheaper than the Supermarkets….
Buying petrol is a lottery these days. Prices rising like rockets and falling like feathers.
Last year the price of crude oil fell by $30 a barrel, and the prices at the pumps didn’t.
I definitely agree that the tax is way too high… No thanks to these ridiculous tax inflation escalators
You can’t help but laugh when the AA accuse others of a price scam!
I’ve used the higher octane diesel fuels for 6/7 years now and occasionally drop back to using a couple of tanks of ordinary, lower-octane (95 RON) fuels and the MPG differential of the higher octane fuels is roughly 13% higher compared to a cost differential of 8.5%. That differential does not sound much but on driving 20k miler per year you will see the difference
That said, my bro drives a superior BMW diesel engine and he’s tried higher-octane diesel but the car performs worse in it, so he’s reverted back to the 95 RON.
My Jag and his BM’er are obviously vastly different engines but almost seems like the Jag was made for the higher grade diesel byt the BM’er the lower grade.
Your bro puts petrol in his diesel BMW? Weird behaviour!
Too right the cost of goods on their shelves should also be reduced,petrol in not the only thing supermarkets sell.
A 1p difference on a 50 litre fill up (which is more than many can do) means the bill is 50 pence different on a total of over £60. Hardly worth the effort of queuing up. Even a 10p a litre voucher is only worth a maximum of £5 which is less than the profit they make on your shopping.
Also as mentioned on previous occasions, why are prices still ending in point 9 of a penny? In the 1970s the petrol industry persuaded the government to do away with the half penny in the price you pay as this was less than the tolerance. the 0.1p is worth 5 pence on 50 litres. Again meaningless. They can still give you less than a litre legally due to the tolerance allowed..
my car,an 03 fiesta runs best on asda petrol. anything else decreases my mpg.
I buy the majority of my unleaded petrol at Sainsburys and have done for many years – apart from anyrhing else it’s very convenient. We have 2 Asdas selling fuel withing 5 miles so price is always competitive. I went away for 10 days holiday recently, and filling up at my usual Sainsburys ob my return, i was suprised to find that the three hoses on every pump had been reduced to two.. Diesel and unleaded ……no Super Unleaded!
If and when we leave EU I would like to see fuel be charged in gallons rather than litres. When fuel was in gallons prior to common market involvement the rises were much smaller ie 1 p or 2 p per gallon On introduction of litre measurement the rise stayed within 1 or 2 p increments but multiply by 4.5 ( litres to gallon ) a rise in real terms 4.5 p or 9 p. The physiological message of such a sudden rise would show the greed of the suppliers. As most cars still have m.p.g as the fuel efficiency and car retailers still use this as guidance I think it’s time this was brought back
I wonder how many of us know that the price per gallon of Unleaded is now around £5.00… which is why I suspect the price on the forcourt is shown in litres…
Trickcyclist think you need to learn some basic maths.
£1.10 a litre is nigh on £5.00 a gallon
£1.21 a litre is nigh on £5.50 a gallon
£1.32 a litre is nigh on £6.00 a gallon
2p a litre is 9p a gallon thats close enough for most people.
Well said. 👍🏻
Many years ago I always used Asda for fuel until out of curiosity I checked exactly how much of a 5 litre purchase you actually recieved. I found that you only got 90% of the 5 litres you thought you had purchased, further checking found that forecourt fuel pumps were calibrated to deliver plus or minus 10% of the actual figure as a legal requirement. I did the same check with another supermarket and found I got 98% of the 5 litres, consequently althoufg Asda are nearly always the cheapest option they are not cheaper by 10% actually less than 1% so I have never used Asda since.
Now whether or not the pume calibration is still the same or has been tightened uoI do not know but with the historical evidence of Asda’s -10% I still would not purchase from them except in an emergency and then only get the smallest quantity that would get me to the next larger town.
That’s a very serious allegation which you should be reporting to Trading Standards.
Surely the pumps are checked/calibrated by independent (HMG?) inspectors as are the scales inside the stores. 10% is a h*ll of a difference and definitely illegal.
By law the pumps should deliver between -0.5% to + 1.0% of the indicated volume. If outside this range it should be reported to Trading Standards.
I agree with the remarks of lionofludesch and ernie. I downloaded a document produced by the National Measurement Office and, according to my understanding of it, fuel pump meters can only be certified as legal if they deliver between -0.5% to +1.0% of the indicated volume for volumes over 4 litres and between -1.0% and +2.0% of the indicated volume for volumes under 4 litres. Except for the very unusual cases of purchases under 4 litres this is in complete agreement with Ken’s statement.
I should, of course, in the above remark, said ‘…………………………if they deliver with TOLERANCES of between -0.5% to +1.0% of the indicated volume………………….’; i.e. delivering between 99.5% to 101% of the indicated volume etc. I had already posted before noticing the mistake.
Utter nonsense Richard.
I’m delighted if I can get 10p a litre off with a voucher from Tesco. Of course I understand that they’re doing it to boost their grocery sales, but 10p a litre on a tank full of fuel is worth having, whatever the supermarket’s motives.
10 out of 10 for Morrison’s, Gravesend for the cheapest petrol in Kent week after week. Plus you get points and eventually a £5 voucher to spend in store.
Its always the same drop by couple of pence then increase by 2 or 3 times the only winner is the companies and sod the motorist. When is the last time (like in days of old) one saw a vast difference from station to station. RIP
Supermarkets and petrol companies operating scams? Surely not…
The same way supermarkets maximise profits on spirits by charging equivalent to mail order prices, but they include P&P and insurance. So the customers get ripped off just as with fuel.
My local TESCO has just put the price for diesel back up to 126.9 from 124.9 per litre.
They are no greedier than all the moaners on who here want everything they buy to be dirt cheap. Wake up – you are already getting very cheap fuel subsidised by damage to the environment that you are happy to let future generations pay..
Bull…. But never let thr truth get in the wait of a pointless untrue rant!
How can Forecourt prices continually be sold in parts of 1p. There is no such currency as part of 1p so how does the advertising standards authority allow this. Do they think we are stupid enough to believe that 0.01p off of 1p will entice us to buy
I think some people just want something to complain about. For weeks our small town Tesco price for diesel has been £1.25.9 per litre when even the big stores in the city have been 2P/litre more. With the groceries this week an extra 10p per litre so that is £1.15.9 per litre for diesel. How is this a scam?
Some supermarket fuel stations were only given permission to open provided they they did not undercut local fuel stations for so many years.
I thought this supermarket v. branded fuel had been well and truly debunked. Unless you have a high performance vehicle that specifies the higher RON or there is something wrong with your engine it makes not a jot of difference.
Now if you want something truly outrageous to complain about it should be the cost of fuel at motorway service stations where it is often 25p or more per litre than at the supermarkets!
You make some good points Paul. My only disagreement with you is that the high price of fuel at motorway service stations is also nothing to complain about because it can easily be avoided by those unhappy about it by being more organised in their choice of fuel stations to buy from.
I run a car on LPG and the differential cost between the highest and lowest prices on my weekly routes to work is 20p! This seems incredible and the lowest prices are always in the supermarkets. Thanks Asda and Morrisons
I have seen my local BP station has been either the same price or 1p lower, on and off for the past few months… and has been cheaper than the large ASDA at the Eithad Stadium for a long time. As this is a “small” locally run franchise business I always fill up at the BP.
And all I can say is at least there trying both my local SHELL and BP garages the prices only travel in one direction no matter what diesel at my local BP garage is on average 10p dearer per litre than local supermarkets. And on tests on resent tv program there is no differences between any of the fuels. So we’ll done the supermarkets
Isn’t it time the government stepped in and stopped this ridicules pricing in point something of a penny surely the garages must have worked out by now that most motorist have seen through this supposed “cheaper” fuel.
they might be only pennies but the supermarkets prices are always lower than oil company garages so bring the price war on
What I have noticed is before these so called prices drops by Supermarkets in the week before the price increase by more than or the same value as the reduction. Tesco’s are amongst the worst to over charge on fuel when they offer spend £60 to get 5p of discounts, often the price at the pump is already 4p or 5p a litre more expensive than other supermarkets with 2 miles of the stores.
Something I am told by Tesco does not happen – well get yourselves to Sheffield because it happens weekly.
I also like that a fall in oil prices or exchange rate gains needs a national campaign to get the fuel prices reduced but anything happening in the middle east and prices rise virtually the next day. The market is broken but we have been promised for 10-15 years of a fuel market regulator but this has never happen – by why would in when 70% of the costs goes to the government in taxes.