The Tameside Radio presenter has noticed a huge variation in fuel prices in recent days.
I'm a keen watcher of fuel prices, and had a close shave this week, as the two petrol stations near my new house are charging an extortionate amount for unleaded, so I swerved them and drove into work on the fumes. I've had my car for almost a year, and not seen the range go into single figures before!
Not only does a game of fuel roulette run the risk of breaking down in the middle of nowhere, but it can also damage your engine. According to Holts Auto, the engine will start to draw air and the final dregs of fuel when your tank is empty, which could stop the engine from starting again!
Potential crisis averted. I got to Tesco Oldham, which was charging roughly 5p a litre less than my local filling station (over £2 less for the tank...it adds up with my mileage!). I felt quite smug, until I drove past Asda on Cavendish Street in Ashton, and spied that it was a further 5p a litre less. Curses!
But why the huge variation? Put simply, a lot of retailers are just not fully passing on reductions in wholesale price. Supermarkets used to be a bellwether of good value, but I've found that this is no longer guaranteed, ever since prices shot up last year.
Remember during the first lockdown when petrol was 99.9? It's incredible that a price of £1.33 a litre is now considered cheap! The RAC estimates that wholesale petrol costs have plunged by 23p, but prices at the pump have only fallen by a maximum of 18p on average. It's even worse if you drive a diesel, as the wholesale price is down by 32p a litre, but the pump price has only dropped by 20p.
The motoring organisation says that retailers employ a "rocket and feather" strategy to boost their profits, with pump prices shooting up in line with wholesale prices, but wafting gently down when things are the other way round on the world markets.
To make things plain to see, the retailer's average margin in 2019, before the pandemic hit, was just 6.5p for petrol and 6.9p for diesel. It's little wonder the petrol station "mini mart" has now evolved into a full supermarket in many instances. Incidentally, I have an uncanny knack of parking behind faffers, who are either taking ages to select which chocolate bar to buy, or doing their entire weekly shop on the forecourt! Things have changed a lot since the days of Green Shield stamps. A reference for our older readers there.
The margin in 2022, in contrast, was 13.5p a litre (10.8p for supermarkets) for unleaded, and 10.3p a litre (7.5p for supermarkets) for diesel. Clearly, that's quite an increase.
The Government has made noises about this stuff, but doesn't seem to have much of an appetite to act decisively. Perhaps they are too busy dealing with bullying allegations and tax return deadlines. I know there is an inexorable drive towards electric cars, and understand all the reasons why. But in the meantime, there's absolutely no justification in my mind for retailers to be fleecing us at the pumps. Fair enough, charge as much as you like in the shop for Curly Wurlys and Nobbly Bobblys, but enough is enough on the petrol.
When I passed my test in 1995 (on the third attempt), unleaded for my little Mini was 49.9 a litre, and I seem to recall filling it to the brim cost significantly less than £20.
It's not only petrol that's causing pain to my wallet. I spotted Heinz tomato soup cans piled up in Sainsbury's recently, marked up with a huge "Special Offer" sign. Apparently, £1 for a tin of soup is now considered a bargain price, down from the regular £1.70! Many food items have doubled or more, and wages are certainly not keeping up, or anything close to it.
I keep seeing calls from the right wing press for tax cuts to drive growth, but wasn't that the aim of the bin fire otherwise known as the Kwasi Kwarteng "mini budget that's not a budget"? Look where that got your mortgage payments. Not mentioned as often by the media but equally alarming is the fact the average rent outside the M25 is now well over £1100 a month.
I don't have the answers, and I'm glad it's not me at the helm having to make the decisions, but I'd like to expect a bit more fairness from retailers.
In the meantime, I won't be allowing my range to get into single figures again. I did once run out of fuel in my wife's Punto at a busy junction in Harrogate, after driving past several overpriced forecourts. Perhaps paying an extra fiver for a tank would have been preferable in that case.
You can listen to Alex every weekday from 7am to 11am and on the 'Super Scoreboard' show on Saturdays from 3pm to 7pm, on Tameside Radio 103.6FM.
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