The RAC has accused petrol retailers of ripping off motorists by refusing to cross on wholesale worth cuts.

The motoring organisation mentioned unleaded petrol fell by 2p a litre, however ought to have come down by 12p.

It estimated drivers had been overcharged by £5m a day in December as retailers made a median of 16p a litre on petrol as a substitute of the conventional 6p.

The Petrol Retailers Affiliation objected, saying drivers had been more likely to have benefited greater than that.

“December was a rotten month for drivers as they had been taken benefit of by retailers,” mentioned the RAC’s gasoline spokesman, Simon Williams.

Prior to now, he mentioned, retailers had all the time diminished pump costs when wholesale costs dropped.

“This time they’ve stood sturdy, making the most of all of the media speak about ‘greater power costs’ and banked on the oil worth rising once more and catching up with their artificially inflated costs, which it has now finished,” Mr Williams mentioned.

However Gordon Balmer, government director of the Petrol Retailers Affiliation, mentioned: “December’s pump worth information is much less dependable as a result of it’s taken from gasoline card transactions, and there have been far fewer of those transactions due to the discount in enterprise exercise between Christmas and New 12 months.”

He mentioned the retail gasoline market remained “extraordinarily aggressive” and mentioned supermarkets didn’t use artificially low gasoline costs to lure consumers into their shops at Christmas.

“The prices of operating petrol stations rose all yr, with electrical energy up 19%, vastly diminished margins from gasoline playing cards, elevated nationwide insurance coverage and wage inflation,” he added.

The RAC mentioned unleaded dropped from 147.47p a litre to 145.48p, when drivers ought to have seen costs nearer to 135p.

Diesel dropped by slightly below 2p a litre from 150.80p to 148.92p, when drivers ought to have been paying about 142p, it mentioned.

The RAC’s information instructed that the worth of a litre of unleaded on the wholesale market, together with supply, averaged 106p throughout December.

It mentioned that had a 6p margin been taken by retailers, drivers would have seen a median petrol pump worth of round 135p after making use of VAT at 20%.

The common wholesale value of delivered diesel was 112p a litre which, with the same old 6p retailer margin, would have given a pump worth of about 142p.

“This implies it has value petrol automobile drivers £6 extra to refill a typical 55-litre household automobile than it ought to have (£80 v £74) and for diesel practically £4 extra, with a tank costing £82 on the finish of the month as a substitute of £78,” the RAC mentioned..

It estimated retailers’ refusal to mirror decrease wholesale costs on the pumps value petrol automobile drivers £156m in December, or the equal of £5m a day.

Howard Cox, founding father of campaigning group FairFuelUK, referred to as for the federal government to create an impartial pricing watchdog.

“If fuel, electrical energy, water and telecoms get worth safety our bodies, why should not motorists have one too?” he mentioned.

He mentioned that if costs on the pumps had been “sincere and clear and open to scrutiny”, inflation might fall by as a lot as 1%.

“Pump costs ought to be 10p decrease per litre if the precise wholesale worth falls had been handed on actually.”

“Sadly, the federal government’s efforts to work with the gasoline trade in order that pump costs are aggressive, and market pushed, making certain shoppers profit from decrease costs, will not be working,” mentioned MP Craig Mackinlay, chair of the All-Celebration Parliamentary Group for Truthful Gasoline for Motorists and Hauliers.