Rising petrol prices set to hit pockets of Mansfield and Ashfield motorists as world crude oil price soars

Just weeks after may drivers struggled to even find petrol across many Mansfield and Ashfield forecourts amid a nationwide delivery crisis, drivers now face the further headaches of a UK-wide fuel hike.

According to the RAC, the average price of petrol just hit a new record high of 142.94p yesterday (Sunday, October 24), exceeding the 142.48p a litre all-time peak reached on April 16, 2012.

The RAC’s Fuel Watch data shows the price of unleaded has rocketed by 28p a litre in a year, from 114.5p in October 2020, adding £15 to the cost of filling up a 55-litre family car (£63 to £78.61).

Diesel is also closing in on a new record with the average now standing at 146.50p, just 1.5p off the high of 147.93p, also from April 2012.

The dramatic hike has been driven primarily by the oil price doubling from around $40 a barrel a year ago to $85 now and some analysts are predicting it could hit $90 by the end of the year.

RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams said: “This is truly a dark day for drivers, and one which we hoped we wouldn’t see again after the high prices of April 2012. This will hurt many household budgets and no doubt have knock-on implications for the wider economy."

At Mansfield’s Rosemary Street Garage, a spokesperson said currently, its price of petrol was 140.9 petrol and 142.9 diesel, “we’re still on par with Tesco,” they said. The garage hadn’t notice any notable change in customer activity.

At the Leeming Lane South service station at Mansfield Woodhouse, a spokesperson said its prices had so far “stayed the same” and the situation had so far “not had any impact.”

A spokesman for Mansfield Service Station, Stockwell Gate, said: “People do know about the prices going up, but things are pretty quiet for us at the moment, things have calmed down from how they were before.

"We know about prices rising, we hope they will stop. We recently put up our petrol and diesel by a penny, but we’re still comparable with other garages. At the moment our prices are £1.41 for petrol and £1.43 for diesel.”

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