Fuel prices around United Kingdom

Fuel pricing in Britain is a local business dressed up as a national one. The wholesale cost of petrol and diesel lands at more or less the same number for every retailer in the country, yet the figure on the totem pole outside a forecourt can swing by more than 40p a litre depending on which junction you come off at. That gap is where the savings live, and it is the reason a two minute check before you set off is worth more than any loyalty scheme.

Most of the variation comes down to who else is trading nearby. Put a supermarket forecourt within sight of an independent and both will sharpen their pencils. Take that competition away, which is what happens on long rural stretches and at motorway services, and prices drift upward and stay there. Drivers on the M6 through Cumbria or the A9 north of Perth will recognise the pattern immediately.

Diesel behaves differently to unleaded because the people buying it behave differently. Hauliers, farmers and delivery fleets buy diesel on contract and in volume, so demand around distribution parks and port towns stays flat through the week. Petrol turnover follows the commuter rhythm instead, which is why prices near big retail parks tend to firm up on Fridays and soften again mid week.

The clean air and low emission zones now running in London, Birmingham, Bristol and a growing list of other cities have changed which vehicles come into town, but they have not made much difference to what the pumps charge. For the great majority of households a petrol or diesel car is still the thing on the driveway, and the weekly fill remains one of the larger discretionary bills.

The tables below pull together every station we currently hold a recent price for, grouped so you can see the national picture first and then drill down to your own patch. If you are planning something longer, following the M6 up to Glasgow, dropping down the A30 into Cornwall or running the A1 between Yorkshire and the border, it is worth glancing at the country and regional pages before you commit to a stop.