Petrol prices show how Spalding motorists are paying much more in neighbouring places such as Peterborough, King's Lynn, Boston, Stamford and Sleaford
Motorists in our area are being taken for a ride - if petrol prices are anything to go by.
An investigation by this paper has found that people in Spalding are paying as much as 19 pence per litre more than drivers in surrounding patches.
Worryingly, during a cost of living crisis, people living in rural communities who rely heavily on their vehicles once again seem to be the ones finding themselves short changed - and during a time of rail strikes and cuts to local bus services.
“And why does this Government continue to ignore the chronic opportunistic profiteering in the fuel supply chain, by not introducing PumpWatch (a scheme to ensure fair prices)?” asked campaigner Howard Cox of FairFuel.co.uk.
“Cutting duty and making pump pricing transparent and fair, would make inflation plummet.
“They are popular vote winning tactics. Yet once in Cabinet, these proven principles are dumped by Ministers in favour of fiscal myopia and baseless green idealism.”
A price check carried out on Tuesday found the lowest price for a litre of unleaded petrol in Spalding was 162.9 pence at the Sainsbury’s pumps with others paying 2p more at other town stations.
However, this was far higher than the lowest price in many surrounding areas, including: Sleaford (Gulf 145.9), Peterborough (Esso, Padholme Road 146.9), Market Deeping (Jet 146.9), Grantham (Gulf 152.7), Bourne (BP 152.9), Stamford (Gulf 152.9), Skegness (Morrisons 155.7), Boston (Texaco 155.9), King’s Lynn (155.9), Wisbech (Tesco 155.9), Lincoln (Jet 156.7), Holbeach (Pace Chapelgate 157.9), Sutterton (Shell 157.9), Swineshead (Esso 157.9).
The lowest prices in Lincolnshire were at Spilsby and Ulceby Cross.
The two Total Energies garages charged 144.9 pence per litre - 18p lower than the cheapest Spalding price - this week. That means a family car could cost more than £10 less to fill up than in Spalding.
Adding insult to injury, our supermarket pumps are also charging more than their sister stores.
Spalding’s Sainsbury’s was priced at 162.9 pence per litre, higher than other Sainsbury’s petrol stations in Peterborough (150.9), Grantham (156.9), Lincoln (157.9) and King’s Lynn (158.9).
It was the same story at Pinchbeck’s Morrisons where a litre of unleaded set you back 163.9 on Tuesday.
Compared to other Morrisons - Peterborough (148.9 and 152.9), Stamford (153.9), Skegness (155.7), Lincoln (157.9), Wisbech (157.9) and King’s Lynn (158.7) - drivers will certainly notice the difference toi their bank accounts when filling up.
A Morrisons spokesperson said: “In the UK petrol prices vary from town to town and even neighbourhood to neighbourhood and we will always strive to be competitive in each local area.
“Occasionally this can mean price differences between different areas open up. We continually review our prices and will look to reduce this difference as soon as we can.”
Spalding’s patch saw the price vary by up to two pence - 162.9 at Sainsbury’s to 164.9 at the Holbeach Road Gulf - a whole 19 pence more than the price at Sleaford’s Gulf.
One local filling station that prides itself on bucking the trend is WH Brand in Whaplode Drove, where unleaded cost 148.9 pence per litre on Tuesday.
“We do what we’ve always done, we try to be fair,” explained dealer principal Martyn Brand.
“In these hard times there’s no point profiteering, but I can’t speak for other people. They do it their way and I do it mine. We’ve got a good fuel contract, good supplier and everything’s added together. We don’t want to be greedy.
“Because we’re an MG car dealership, selling new MGs, this also helps to bring football into the business. We’re quite surprised how many people call for petrol and say ‘we didn’t know you sold new MGs’. We’ve sold a number on the back of this, so it’s a win for the public and a win for us.”
All prices were found at www.petrolprices.com.
Sainsbury’s has not replied to our request for a comment.
Supermarkets blamed for high costs of fuel
Supermarkets are to blame for the high cost of fuel, it has been claimed.
The RAC says that drivers are being denied cheaper fuel by the UK’s biggest retailers refusing to cut their forecourt prices to reflect far lower wholesale costs.
The automotive service says its Fuel Watch data reveals supermarkets are ‘currently enjoying margins of around 15p a litre on both petrol and diesel while hard-pressed drivers have to fork out for petrol at an unnecessarily high average price of 160.96p and 184.41p for diesel’.
RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams said: “With many people struggling to put fuel in their cars it’s very sad to see the biggest fuel retailers taking advantage of their customers by charging far higher prices than they should be.
“This is unfortunately a perfect example of prices falling like a feather, the opposite of them rocketing up as soon as the wholesale price rises significantly.
“The supermarkets dominate UK fuel retailing, primarily because they have traditionally sold petrol and diesel at lower prices due to the large volumes they sell, but sadly there is now a remarkable lack of competition among the four main players which means prices are far higher than they should be.
“If one of the supermarkets were to lead a round of price cuts, the others would follow suit which, in turn, would bring the average price of fuel down for the benefit of drivers everywhere.
“As it stands, there are smaller, independent forecourts offering more competitive prices than supermarkets so drivers should shop around.”
Petrol prices in our area
Spalding 162.9
Pinchbeck 163.9
Sleaford 145.9
Peterborough 1 46.9
Market Deeping 146.9
Grantham 152.7
Bourne 152.9
Stamford 152.9
Skegness 155.7
Boston 155.9
Wisbech 155.9
King’s Lynn 155.9
Lincoln 156.7
Holbeach 157.9
Sutterton 157.9
Swineshead 157.9
Ulceby Cross 144.9
Horncastle 149.9
Spilsby 144.9
Coningsby 155.9
Woodhall Spa 155.9
Data from petrolprices.com on December 6
