Fears raised over biggest petrol price rise for 18 years

The latest hike has been described as "horrendous" and some firms admit it will also be felt by some of their customers.

The price of petrol at the pump rose by 6p a litre in May – the worst monthly rise for 18 years, the RAC has said.

Unleaded shot up from 123.43p to 129.41p a litre, putting the cost of filling up a 55-litre family car to £71.18.

The increase equalled £3.29 in just one month, data from RAC Fuel Watch shows.

The average price diesel per litre saw a slightly greater monthly increase of 6.12p, from 126.27p to 132.39p, which was the second worst rise since the start of 2000.

The cost of a tank of diesel for a family car became £3.37 more expensive during May at £72.81.

The average prices of both petrol and diesel have gone up every day since 22 April, the motoring group said.

Steve Penton, of Pentons haulage firm in Oswestry, said: "It is horrendous. We have survived before and we will have to survive again.

"Everyone is in the the same boat. If it was just us I would be shouting louder about it.

"It impacts on our fuel escalator. We give customers a basic price, then this can go up or down depending on the price of fuel.

"We look a the price of fuel every week. We then ring round our suppliers to get the cheapest.

"We are also mindful of fuel consumption and monitor how the vehicles are being driven.

"We spend a fortune on our vehicles but then you look at the state of the roads."

Martyn Rowlands, managing director of pipe work and drainage distributor Pipekit, said: “Ongoing hikes in fuel prices will have an impact on our costs both through running our own delivery vehicles and through potentially increased charges from our overnight carriers.

"This will also run down through our supply chain and the costs our suppliers incur getting goods to us. We haven’t seen any significant increases as yet from our carriers, however, we have clearly seen increases when filling up our own vehicles at the pump, so it may be just a matter of time.”

Carl Wilday, managing director of Go Carz, Shropshire's largest taxi firm. said: "Fuel is the main cost for our drivers, so when prices go up it naturally makes it more difficult for them.

"We do all we can to keep our costs low, and will continue to do our best to absorb the costs rather than passing them on to our customers, so we just hope they will fall again in the future."

RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams said: "May was a hellish month for motorists.

"Sadly, they have been besieged by pump price rises for three months with nearly 9p a litre being added to petrol since the beginning of March.

"The rising oil price together with a weaker pound is a punitive combination for anyone that drives regularly.

"For many people there is little alternative to the car for the majority of journeys they have to make, so it is therefore very difficult to avoid feeling the pinch of rising pump prices."

The so-called big four supermarkets – Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's and Morrisons – raised petrol by 5.49p a litre and diesel by 5.88p in May.

Motorway service stations added 6.37p to unleaded, making it 144.75p a litre, and 6.69p to diesel making a litre 147.80p.

The price of oil passed the 80 dollar a barrel mark (£60) two times during the month.

The re-imposition of US sanctions on Iran – the world's fifth largest oil producer – saw the oil price rise by three per cent in May. At the same time, sterling weakened by two per cent, making oil imports (priced in dollars) more expensive.

For consumers other prices are also rising – higher energy bills, for example, have just started biting. And the sugar tax will add to the cost of many soft drinks.