Advertisement
Latest news:

Israel carried out strike on Iran, US officials say

Petrol station raises fuel price to nearly £3 per litre as shortages send prices soaring

Jimmy Nsubuga
·2-min read
'Out of Use' signs are displayed on the fuel pumps at a filling station in Baker Street, central London, on October 2, 2021. - Troops are expected to be deployeed within days to help ease the crisis, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson insisting this week that the situation was returning to normal. (Photo by Niklas HALLE'N / AFP) (Photo by NIKLAS HALLE'N/AFP via Getty Images)
A petrol station in wets London is charging £2.93 per litre for unleaded to dissuade people from hoarding. (Getty)

A petrol station has raised its fuel price to £2.93 per litre as shortages send prices soaring.

Many garages are still running dry following a chaotic week of panic-buying, fights at the pumps and drivers hoarding fuel after a lack of truckers strained supply chains.

The increase in demand has led some petrol stations to increase prices, with a Gulf station in south Kensington, charging drivers £2.93 per litre for unleaded to dissuade people from hoarding.

The average fuel price is currently £1.35 per litre for petrol and £1.38 per litre for diesel.

The RAC has warned it may hit £1.43 per litre for petrol and £1.45 per litre for diesel in the next few weeks.

'No Fuel' signage is displayed at a closed filling station in Streatham Hill, south London, on October 2, 2021. - The British army will begin delivering petrol to fuel stations on Monday after fears over tanker driver shortages led to panic buying and forced the government to offer visa waivers to foreign truckers to plug the shortfall. (Photo by Niklas HALLE'N / AFP) (Photo by NIKLAS HALLE'N/AFP via Getty Images)
'No Fuel' signage is displayed in south London. (Getty)

Prices have remained stable despite shortages at filling stations.

Government figures show that the average price of a litre of petrol at UK forecourts increased by just a fraction of 1p to £1.35 on Monday compared with a week earlier.

Typical diesel prices rose from £1.37 to £1.38 over the same period.

Average UK fuel prices have soared in the last year going from £1.05 a litre at the height of the pandemic to £1.38 this week.

The RAC has warned that rising wholesale prices are set to be passed on to motorists in the coming days, with oil edging closer to $80 a barrel.

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM - 2021/09/30: 'Sorry Out Of Use' signs cover petrol pumps at a Texaco station in central London which ran out of fuel after reopening for just one day. Many stations have run out of petrol due to a shortage of truck drivers linked to Brexit, along with panic buying. (Photo by Vuk Valcic/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Petrol stations around the country remain dry. (Getty)

Ministers have insisted for days the crisis is abating or even over, but retailers said more than 2,000 gas stations were dry and dozens of pumps across London and southern England were still closed.

From Monday, the government said it would deploy almost 200 military tanker personnel, 100 of which are drivers, to assist with fuel deliveries to gas stations and help address a shortage of heavy goods vehicle (HGV) drivers.

Last Sunday, the government announced a plan to issue temporary visas for 5,000 foreign truck drivers and 5,500 poultry workers to alleviate shortages.

Some of the truck drivers said they would decline the visas because the timeframe was not long enough.

The government tweaked those plans on Friday, introducing a bespoke scheme to allow up to 300 fuel tanker drivers to come to the UK immediately but temporarily.

Watch: Fuel crisis eases but 'remains critical' in parts of UK