10:26am Thursday 18th March 2010
By Chris Hopper
ONE of Lancashire’s biggest petrol station operators has told drivers: ‘We are not to blame for price rises’.
Motorists are bracing themselves for hikes at the pumps after the AA warned of the impact of an increase in fuel duty from April 1 and a rise in oil prices.
Yesterday, nowhere in East Lancashire was selling unleaded petrol for less than 112.9p a litre, according to data from analysis website PetrolPrices.com. Yet in Preston, drivers were filling up their cars for 110.9p a litre.
Mohsin Issa, director of Darwen-based Euro Garages, which operates more than 40 petrol stations across Lancashire, said: “When prices at the pumps go up, it is down to oil prices going up and duty increases from the Government.
“We don’t increase our margins and in fact we are actually squeezed ourselves.
“The problem for us is that when prices go up, people stop taking as many discretionary journeys because the prices are at the forefront of people’s minds. The price rises are not great news for us at all.”
The looming price hikes will also hit hauliers as it becomes more expensive to shift goods around the country.
David Fishwick, who runs a van dealership in Byron Road, Colne, that delivers vehicles, said the increases could cost his firm £1,000 extra a week in fuel.
He added: “The increases will have a massive impact on people like us who transport things around the UK.”
Earlier this week, Chorley MP Lindsay Hoyle, who sits on the House of Commons business select committee, blasted petrol forecourt operators, claiming motorists were being “mugged at the forecourts”.
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