The recent rise in petrol prices has been steadier than the dramatic & sudden hike of the summer of 2008. It's been a difficult fortnight nonetheless. The cheapest gallon of unleaded in town is currently now £5.68. That’s the highest it's ever been. It beats the previous highs of April 2010 (after which the price dipped a little) and July 2008 (when the price per gallon reached £5.44).This means that to fuel an average Ford Focus in this area will cost you £69.70. This is an increase of £8.86 over 12 months, for 511 miles of motoring, assuming a 1,600cc engine.
The situation is worse for diesel motorists. Diesel is now £5.77 a gallon at the cheapest of Rhuthun's two filling stations. A year ago, it was £5.01 but diesel has yet to reach its peak of July 2008, when it got to £6.06 a gallon.
From July 2009, unleaded in Rhuthun began to nudge towards diesel, as the gap closed. Indeed, this past weekend saw diesel and unleaded at identical prices at Bridge Services, at £5.81 a gallon each. By Sunday afternoon, this subsequently dropped to £5.72 for unleaded but increased to £5.86 for diesel.We're a dormitory town and we rely heavily on fuel to get out and about. Nothing is particularly local for us—industry & employment, large shops, cinemas, education. We need to travel. Winter driving compounds the problem, using more fuel and this is especially so this year, with its early onset, with snow and record temperatures below freezing. The Nant y Garth reported –14C during the worst of our recent frosty weather.
Pump prices have been affected by the wholesale price of petrol, which has risen sharply in the past fortnight to three weeks, while the new year increase in fuel duty and VAT will push petrol prices up to £5.78 a gallon and beyond.
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Petrol