Drivers could see diesel prices fall in next two weeks – but there’s a catch

DRIVERS could see diesel prices fall in the next two weeks – as long as retailers pass on a drop in wholesale prices.

The RAC revealed that diesel drivers are still charged an extra 20p over the owners of petrol cars despite there being ‘little difference’ in their prices on the wholesale market.

Drivers could see diesel prices fall in the next two weeks, but there’s a catch

The average cost of filling a family car with petrol is £81.40, while diesel drivers have to pay £10 more (£92.39) every time they visit a petrol station.

Last week, the wholesale price of diesel was just 6p higher than that of petrol (121.06p vs 115.48p), but diesel drivers had to pay 168p per litre, compared to 148p for unleaded.

The RAC claims diesel drivers will see a “huge pump price cut” within a fortnight, but only if fuel retailers play fair.

And diesel drivers would be paying no more than 155p per litre, making filling an average 55-family car £7 less than it is today.

The motoring group said that supermarkets were deliberately targeting drivers with diesel cars to subsidise cheaper charges for petrol.

Latest Government figures show 17.6 million vehicles licensed in the UK are diesel-powered, including the vast majority of vans.

RAC spokesman Simon Williams said: “Drivers of the country’s diesel vehicles have every right to feel hard done by as they’re paying a huge premium for the fuel, which in no way reflects its lower wholesale cost.

“For nearly a month, the gap between wholesale petrol and diesel prices has been less than 10p a litre, and in recent days it has reduced to just 3.5p.

“Yet average diesel prices at the pumps remain stubbornly high, having fallen by only 2p since the start of February.

“The fact membership-only retailer Costco has been able to cut the average price of a litre of diesel by 4p last week shows what’s possible, but we badly need other fuel retailers to treat drivers of diesel vehicles fairly.”

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