Drivers are continuing to face soaring pump prices despite a drop in wholesale prices in recent weeks.
RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams said that this was “inexplicable”.
“We can see absolutely no rhyme or reason why average forecourt prices are still going up, given that the wholesale price of both fuels has been falling for weeks,” he said.
“Drivers up and down the country have a right to know why they’re having to pay what they are for fuel when the costs to retailers right now are so much less they were a few weeks ago."
In response, Gordon Balmer, director of the Petrol Retailers' Association (RPA), said that "prices are extremely volatile”.
“On 1 June, retailers were making negative margins, causing a rise in pump prices,” he said.
"During June, the average margin represented about 50% of the returns retailers need to operate the business. Prices also depend on the pricing platform that the fuel retailer purchased the fuel under, some buy based on a three-week average lagged price some weekly, some two days and some previous day, plus when they need to reorder."
Earlier this month Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng ordered the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to carry out a ‘short and focused review' of the fuel market, and to provide advice to the UK Government on steps that might be taken to improve outcomes for consumers across the UK.
Industry campaigners are calling for the Government to go further than the 5p fuel duty cut announced in the Spring Statement to help drivers, particularly those who rely on their cars to get to work
Fair Fuel UK wants a cut of at least 20p-per-litre, considering that other European countries have gone further than the UK Government’s 5p cut.
Earlier this week both the Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Chancellor Rishi Sunak hinted that more might be done by the Government to cut fuel prices.
The RAC’s Williams said that such a move “can’t come soon enough”.
