This was the scene at one York petrol station today.
All unleaded petrol had sold out at Sainsbury’s, Monks Cross this evening (Monday). And diesel wasn’t far behind.
Signs warned drivers: “Sorry, we have no unleaded petrol at the moment. We are working hard to rectify this as soon as possible.
“Sorry no super leaded on all pumps. No diesel on pumps 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 11, 12.”
Despite the restrictions, motorists were queuing off the petrol forecourt.
Today, Sainsbury’s price for petrol was 157.9p a litre for unleaded, and 170.9p a litre for diesel.
That’s a big jump since our last survey just under a week ago (Tuesday, 8 March), when we found it was the cheapest of six key York petrol stations. That afternoon it was selling petrol for 145.9p – 12p a litre less.
And diesel was 155.9p – 15p a litre less.
Nearby Asda at Monks Cross had plenty of petrol this evening, selling unleaded at 160.8p a litre.
Other motorists reported that the petrol station at Tesco at Clifton Moor had closed. And there were long queues to use the pumps at Morrisons.
Should see a drop soon
Nationally, fuel prices have broken new records as a slump in wholesale costs failed to make an impact at the pumps.
Figures from data firm Experian Catalist show the average cost of a litre of petrol at UK forecourts on Sunday was 163.5p, while diesel was 173.4p.
A month ago, pump prices were 148.0p per litre for petrol and 151.6p per litre for diesel.
Oil prices plummeted last week, leading to a cut in wholesale costs for fuel retailers.
This followed a surge in prices due to supply fears caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The price per barrel of Brent crude, the most commonly used way of measuring the UK’s oil price, reached 139 US dollars on March 7, which was its highest level in 14 years.
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But the price plummeted to 109 US dollars two days later, and remains around that level.
RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams said the average price of petrol “appears to be on a collision course with £1.65 a litre”.
He went on: “While there will almost certainly be more rises this week, drivers should soon get some respite from pump prices jumping by several pence a litre every day as oil and wholesale prices appear to have settled.
“The price hikes seen over the weekend are still a result of the oil price rise which began at the start of the month and peaked early last week.
“As the oil price has now fallen back, we should hopefully reach the peak and start to see prices going the other way to reflect the big drop in wholesale costs seen at the end of last week, subject to no further spikes in the barrel price this week.”