Petrol stations need watchdog to stop ‘profiteering,’ says campaigner

The government is being urged to set up a watchdog for petrol retailers as prices once again surge to new record highs.

Howard Cox, founder or FairFuelUK, said the government should clamp down on what he called “opportunistic profiteering” by forecourt owners, suggesting formal oversight was required.

“We think the government could support an early day motion for a fuel price watchdog, not a full regulatory body like Ofgem, but something like an adjudicator, “ he told the Standard.

The RAC recently reported that retailers were making as much as £5 million a day from higher than normal profit margins during December.

With the average price of petrol hitting 167p a litre on Sunday and diesel hitting an average 179p, the cost for motorists of filling up their cars has rocketed at a time when skybound household energy bills are also squeezing living standards.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak will address Parliament with his Spring Statement on Wednesday and is expected to announce a short-term cut to fuel duty of 5p.

Sunak has been urged by campaign groups to cut petrol duty permanently to prevent the cost of living crisis deepening further.

Cox said: “We would accept a 5p cut in fuel duty but we believe that due to the shed-load of VAT the treasury has received on the back of high fuel prices in the past few months there’s room for a 6-7p cut.”

The chancellor will be hoping that the recent oil price fall – Brent crude is now at $111 a barrel from a high of $139 – will feed through to prices at the pump.

Cox called for more support for hauliers, given fuel makes up 50% to 60% of a haulage firm’s costs.

Andrew Dixon, chairman of Fairer Share, which campaigns on property tax, said Sunak could help millions of households by “killing off our outdated council tax system” and replacing it with a proportional property tax –a flat rate charged annually on a property’s value.

“More so than anything else that the chancellor appears to be considering, this reform would demonstrate a real commitment to helping those households who are already struggling with the cost of living and are set to be hit by further eye-watering council tax rises next month,” he said.