The UK's competition watchdog has warned that drivers are continuing to pay too much to fill up at the pump, forking out an extra £1.6 billion in 2023 alone.
In an update on its monitoring of the fuel market issued this morning, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) found that supermarkets' profit margins - which is the difference between the price they buy fuel at and what they charge motorists - had doubled since 2019.
The regulator is calling for more pressure on supermarkets to offer better prices via a compulsory fuel price monitoring system to help consumers make informed choices at the pumps.
"Last year we found that competition in the road fuel market was failing consumers, and published proposals that would revitalise competition amongst fuel retailers," CMA chief executive Sarah Cardell said. "One year on and drivers are still paying too much.
"We want to work with government to put in place our recommendation of a real-time fuel finder scheme to kick-start competition among retailers. This will put the power in the hands of drivers who can compare fuel prices wherever they are, sparking greater competition."
The CMA began investigating the road fuel market last year and, at the time, made a series of recommendations to help drivers cut the cost of filling their tanks.
It has set up a temporary price data-sharing scheme to help consumers to make informed choices at the pumps. However, this only covers about 40% of service stations and therefore is not comprehensive enough to be utilised by map apps or sat-navs to deliver accurate live information.
Motoring group RAC said drivers paying £1.6bn more than they should have "is nothing short of outrageous."
"Drivers have every right to feel ripped off, especially knowing there is virtually no market competition between retailers," RAC head of policy Simon Williams said.
Royal Bank owner smashes City forecasts, sending shares soaring
Shares in Royal Bank of Scotland owner NatWest Group are up by more than 7% this morning after it raised its profit guidance and announced a deal to acquire a £2.5 billion portfolio of prime UK mortgages from Metro Bank.
State-backed NatWest smashed City expectations as it booked an operating profit of £3bn for the six months to June 30, 15.6% down on the same period last year but ahead of market forecasts. It reported an operating profit of £1.7bn for the second quarter versus an expected £1.3bn.
Read the full story here.
Scotch whisky distiller 'delighted' with new mainland base
Isle of Harris Distillers has agreed a deal to take up space at Blythswood Square in Glasgow, declaring it is “delighted” with its expanded mainland base.
Scottish property firm SRE Group announced yesterday that Isle of Harris Distillers had agreed a deal to take the 870 sq ft second floor at 25 Blythswood Square, noting this means the refurbished building is now fully let.
Read the full story here.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel