Lancashire’s drivers enjoy petrol price drop

Petrol costs fall to their lowest price in four years

In the face of plunging international oil prices, leading supermarkets all announced they were cutting 1p a litre off their petrol and diesel.

Fuel prices fell to as low as 119.7p a litre for petrol and 123.7p for diesel.

Major supermarkets have steadily reduced pump prices over recent weeks and the new prices are the lowest since January 2011.

Pete Williams, head of external affairs at the RAC, said: “We welcome the move by some fuel retailers to cut the price at the pump and hope others will follow suit swiftly.

“Motorists will be delighted to see the price of unleaded dropping below £1.20 for the first time in four years but the RAC is calling for a further 4p cut in unleaded and 2p cut in the price of diesel to be fair to motorists.”

The drop comes just days after the Government warned it would be “watching very carefully” to make sure the fall in the price of crude oil is passed on to motorists at the pumps.

Treasury Chief Secretary Danny Alexander demanded an assurance from the major players in the industry that they are doing all they can to pass on the benefits of the slump in global oil prices to consumers.

Chancellor George Osborne said: “Our message today is very clear: the oil price has fallen, we expect that to be passed on to people at the petrol stations as they fill up their cars.

“We expect the oil companies to do this and we will be watching very carefully to make sure that they do.”

Mr Alexander said the Government had cut and then frozen fuel duty to help motorists, and now it was time for the industry to take action.

He said : “Now that we see global oil prices falling, we need to make sure that those prices are passed on at the pumps.”

But campaigners said the Government has not done enough to help motorists, with tax still accounting for the largest share of prices at the pump.

AA president Edmund King welcomed the Government move, but said: “Lower pump prices also expose more fully the burden of fuel taxation, currently around 65 per cent of the cost of a litre of petrol.”