The founder of Fair Fuel UK has called for a new consumer price regulatory body to ensure fairness for motorists at the petrol pumps.
Howard Cox says his Pump Watch initiative has “huge backing” and that he will be sending a letter to Jeremy Hunt signed by 25 MPs.
Speaking to GB News, transport campaigner Mr Cox said: “I’ve been saying for the last four or five years that we’ve been ripped off in the fuel supply chain. “There’s definitely opportunistic profiteering going on. It’s further up the fuel supply chain where it’s happening.
“It’s not the independent retailers, as most of them are actually tied to very, very strict contracts with wholesalers. It’s the wholesalers and oil refineries and the big oil companies. I’m afraid they are basically fleecing every driver.
On whether supermarkets were “missing a trick” by not reducing their prices at the pumps, he continued: “Yes, they are. Around 50% of fuel dispensed comes through supermarkets. Yet for some reason we are not seeing any reductions, and I think it must be because they’re not making so much profit on their other core areas of their business.
We used to see supermarkets give you something off per litre if you put say 50 quids worth of shopping through their outlets, but that sort of a deal seems to have disappeared.
“Now you’re seeing how independent retailers are actually cheaper than supermarkets at the moment. And it’s even worse because supermarkets buy direct from the refinery. They don’t buy through the wholesalers. So they’re making huge profits on drivers.”
Issuing a direct plea to the Government he added: “We’re still the highest taxed drivers in the world. That’s why we’re calling for a body called Pump Watch. There’ll be a letter going to Jeremy Hunt signed by 25 MPs asking for a body to actually get some transparency and fairness at the pumps.
“And the other thing we’re calling on is for the Chancellor and for Rishi Sunak to come clean and say there’s no planned increase in fuel duty in March. Because at the moment, they’re just playing these ‘will they, won’t they’ games. They seem to be enjoying upsetting drivers and upsetting businesses that need to plan for the next three to four months.”
