Petrol 'price war' breaks out among supermarkets but only the 'lucky few' in certain parts of UK enjoy drop in cost

A petrol price war has broken out between UK supermarkets but only a lucky few in parts of the UK will enjoy the sudden drop in cost.

Greater Manchester supermarket petrol last weekend was as much as 13p per litre cheaper in Ashton-under-Lyne.

The AA said supermarkets were going “head to head on fuel” in the areas.

Price cuts have primarily been seen in northern England, Northern Ireland and Wales.

The price of petrol in Northern Ireland is currently 10p cheaper than London and southern England, while Wales is 6p cheaper.

AA fuel price spokesman Luke Bosdet said: “Discovering that supermarket petrol or diesel is £5 to £7 a tank more expensive than just 10 miles down the road is guaranteed to leave drivers livid.

“It just doesn’t make sense, particularly when other essentials like bread, milk and eggs are pretty much the same price wherever you go.

“Say, for instance, a supermarket lures you into their store with a voucher offering £6 off a £60 shopping bill.

“To find out that that supermarket clawed back all that saving, and perhaps £1 on top of that, at the pump, compared to a superstore in a neighbouring town, will quite rightly lead to a howl of protest.

“The retailers only get away with it because the fuel price transparency that the Competition and Markets Authority recommended to the Government in October doesn’t yet exist, except in Northern Ireland.”

On average, UK petrol prices are down to the same levels seen this time last year, seeing falls of 4.4p for petrol and 5.0p for diesel since before Christmas.