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'Outrageous' as petrol hits £1 a litre

From the Abingdon Herald, first published Thursday 27th Jul 2006.

UNLEADED petrol in at least five of Oxfordshire's 70 petrol stations this week rose to above £1 a litre.

The average price in the county on Tuesday was 99.3 pence a litre.

In Oxford, the most expensive price was at the BP station in Botley, where motorists were charged 101.9 pence.

The highest price in the county was believed to be 102.9p at the BP station in Thame Road, Stadhampton.

The price rises meant families were paying over £20 more a month in fuel than at the start of the year, according to the AA.

Last summer, hauliers threatened to block ports and major motorways when petrol prices rose above 96 pence a litre, but experts predict that £1 a litre could soon become the norm.

Ruth Bridger, of the AA Motoring Trust, said: "With the Middle East crisis, hurricane season potentialy hitting oil refineries in the United States, and demand steadily going up from China and in other places around the world, it is inevitable that we will get to an average of £1 a litre soon and I think it will probably be this year.

"We will certainly see £1 a litre very shortly for diesel."

Oxford-based driving instructor, Roger Coenen, said: "These high petrol prices are obviously making a big difference to me, because I am constantly on the road.

"I try to absorb as much of the cost as possible, but if it keeps going up, eventually I have to pass it on to those paying for lessons."

Val Clarke, of the Oxfordshire Driving Instructors Association, said she expected to spend an extra £500 on petrol this financial year.

She said: "There seems to be more talk among driving instructors of changing to diesel because unleaded is getting so expensive and diesel is more efficient.

"Learner drivers don't realise how much petrol costs. Most of them are young and I think it is quite a shock when they find out."

The average price of diesel fuel has also broken through the £1 barrier in Oxfordshire, having reached 100.1 pence per litre.

TNT spends about £1m a year keeping its diesel-fuelled lorries at Milton Park on the road.

Director of operations, Nigel Barton, said: "Each day we have to work out what the customer will be charged, based on the cost of the fuel. As the country's biggest business to business supplier, it is worrying if our wheels are not turning, because that means the wheels of business are not turning."

Oxfordshire Chamber of Commerce spokesman, Kate Norris, said: "It is outrageous that unleaded petrol prices have now exceeded the £1 threshold."

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