Last year was a great year for petrol heads with the price of petrol and diesel falling for the third successive year. Petrol prices fell by 12.8% in 2015 with the decline in diesel prices even more marked at 13.9%. Both of these price falls represented the steepest declines since 1986. Back then a litre of diesel and petrol was 36p and 37p respectively. The trend in falling motor fuel prices has extended into its fourth year in 2016. The average UK weekly petrol price hit a low of just over 101 pence per litre at the start of February with diesel dipping just below this figure. Since then, however, petrol and diesel prices have risen by 8-9% and climbed above the 109 pence per litre level. Despite these recent gains, for the first five months of the year, petrol and diesel prices are 7% (petrol) and 9% (diesel) lower than the average for last year. Given that the price of oil in sterling terms has been on the rise in recent months. Further increases at the forecourts look inevitable.
View our recent Petrol Heads Index here.