Soaring fuel prices are forcing motorists to cut back on everyday spending and adding tens of thousands of pounds a week to business costs, with petrol at its highest level since November 2022. Drivers say they are changing their spending habits to cope with rising costs at the pump, while businesses warn higher fuel bills are placing increasing pressure on their finances. Petrol prices rose to an average of 161.3p per litre between July and August, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the highest level recorded since November 2022, when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine pushed up global energy costs. Diesel is also expected to top £2 per litre in the coming days.
Among those feeling the impact is Arvander Pabla in Willenhall, in the West Midlands, who drives a lot every day and says rising fuel costs have forced him to make cutbacks elsewhere. “I do nearly 70, 75 miles per day, and it has really affected me price wise, because it has nearly gone double,” he said. To create more room in his budget for fuel, he said he had reduced spending on takeaways and eating out, and was considering replacing his car with a more fuel-efficient vehicle. Motorist Sue Willis said the rising cost of filling up was becoming increasingly difficult for households to absorb.
“It’s absolutely ridiculous, how we are expected to keep paying for it, I don’t know,” she said. “How people are coping as families I don’t know, I really don’t know.” At a petrol station in Willenhall, fuel retailer Shailesh Parekh said rising wholesale costs were affecting both businesses and customers. Parekh, director of Midland Motor Fuels Ltd, which operates seven petrol stations across the region, said: “We certainly don’t have any control over it, we just have to try and mitigate as much as we can the price increases. “We do so by filling our tanks up when the prices are going up or delaying the purchase of fuel when prices are going down.
“Most people have a budget for how much fuel they have per week so as prices go up, the number of litres that are sold, drops.” The increase comes as conflict in the Middle East continues to disrupt global oil supplies. The price of a barrel of oil has risen to about $91, compared with $73 before hostilities began earlier this year. Overall, motor fuel prices increased by 23% compared with August last year. Rising fuel costs are also contributing to inflation, increasing pressure on the prices of other goods and services.
Among the businesses most exposed are haulage firms. BJS Haulage, based in the West Midlands, employs more than 1,100 people and operates 140 trucks and 350 vans. The company said fuel represents about a third of its costs and has increased expenditure by about £40,000 a week. Sales director David McWilliams said: “It is a cost we try and pass on to our customers but our customers are under their own cost constraints at the moment.
“I think only the government can intervene now, whether it’s a VAT reduction. “Horrifyingly we’re hearing of the fuel levy getting increased in the next budget, that would just be disastrous for this industry.” The rising costs have prompted renewed political debate over fuel duty. The government has postponed a planned increase in fuel duty until the end of December, while Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey has called for an immediate 10p-a-litre cut until Christmas, arguing motorists need support with the cost of living. Follow BBC Birmingham on BBC Sounds, Facebook, external, X, external and Instagram, external.
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