Eastbourne fuel prices are more expensive than other locations in England, MP reveals

In Eastbourne motorists are paying at least 10p more per litre for petrol and 3p – 10p more for diesel than the cheapest service station in Leicester, MP Caroline Ansell said.

This has caused Mrs Ansell to call for a ‘pump pricing watchdog’ as forecourt fuel prices remain much higher than wholesale costs. Mrs Ansell has joined with colleagues to call on the Chancellor Jeremy Hunt in a letter to act over concerns that profiteering is taking place at forecourts.

In the letter, figures from FairFuelUk found that between October 10 – December 8 petrol prices fell just 3 per cent but wholesale petrol dropped 22 per cent. Drivers of diesel cars are potentially even worse off with retail prices hardly changing in the same period yet its wholesale cost plunging by 25 per cent. FairFuelUK said the price differential between petrol and diesel jumped a massive 400 per cent - from 5p/litre to 24p/litre.

Mrs Ansell said: “I share widespread concern that when wholesale fuel prices rise, forecourts pass on the cost immediately, but when they fall there is much less of a reduction. The question must be why are all forecourts in our town more expensive than the cheapest place to fill up in Leicester when the wholesale price has fallen significantly? I am of the view that only a fuel watchdog will be able to iron out these discrepancies and ensure that motorists are not being hit by profiteering at the pumps.”

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