20 April 2012

NI Motorists Charged Highest Petrol Prices In The UK

The price of petrol in Northern Ireland is about 1.5p above the national average.

UK petrol prices have soared to 142.48p per litre, according to motoring association the AA.

In Northern Ireland we pay around 143.9p a litre for petrol and 148.2p a litre for diesel.

Andrew Howard from the AA said :"Northern Ireland is always the highest part of the UK. It's about 1.5p above the national average.

"A lot of that tends to be down to the fact that NI doesn't have the right supermarkets.

"Two of the big four supermarkets in Britain play a wonderful role in pulling down the prices because they are deliberately cheap.

"Northern Ireland doesn't have those supermarkets."

According to research from the Consumer Council NI supermarkets vary prices by around 6 or 7p depending on location.

Aidan O'Donnell, from the Consumer Council, told the BBC: "The worry adding to this is that in August there's another plan to increase the fuel duty by just over 3p, that will bring up the price that we pay even further.

"We've been in touch with the Treasury and are calling on local MPs and assembly members to bring a bit of pressure to try to postpone that increase in fuel duty."

(GK)