Supermarket chain Asda has sparked a petrol price war by slashing 2p a litre from the cost of fuel.
The move just ahead of Father’s Day and the sun soaked weekend when millions are expected to head to beaches and picnic beauty spots, will bring welcome relief to hard-up drivers.
It caps the cost of unleaded and diesel at 111.7p a litre to make Asda’s pumps the cheapest nationally.
It fired the first salvo and was quickly followed by Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons which also dropped their prices by 2p a litre.
etrol retailers came under fire from the RAC last week for failing to pass on savings to 33 million drivers when the cost of oil tumbled to a five week low of $47.15 a barrel.
As car owners were finally able to cash in, RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams welcomed the cuts but said motorists had been kept waiting too long.
He said: “Unfortunately, a cut to the price of diesel is long overdue as its wholesale price has been lower than petrol’s for weeks with little reflection of this on the forecourt.
“While the value of the pound has fallen since the election, the price of oil has also reduced, bringing down wholesale fuel costs which should rightly be passed on to motorists at the pumps.”
And the AA added: “UK average petrol prices have been stuck at around 116.5p a litre for the past six weeks and drivers were wondering when they were going to see the benefit of lower oil prices. Asda’s move will hopefully break the log jam.”
Asda, which sets one price for fuel across the country while rival supermarkets price their petrol locally, said its research revealed the cost of petrol had the largest impact on household budgets.
The chain’s head of petrol trading Dave Tyrer said: “Today’s latest move shows that Asda is once again leading the way in reducing the price at the pumps to help the millions of motorists across the UK.
“Our new national price cap of 111.7ppl on both unleaded and diesel will be welcomed by the millions of drivers who be starting to plan their summer holidays.”
Morrisons said it’s petrol would be “far below the UK average.”
Sainsbury’s which was the first to match Asda’s cut said: “We always aim to provide our customers with fantastic prices and great quality across all of our products and services, so we hope this price drop will help them keep costs down in the run up to summer holidays.”
And Peter Cattell fuel director for Tesco added: “We know that lots of customers will have plans to enjoy the good weather predicted for this weekend, so we’re delighted to be dropping the price of fuel to help them enjoy it even more.”
While drivers had to wait until this morning (Fri) for cheaper petrol at Asda, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s, Tesco stole a march by dropping its pump prices from yesterday (Thurs) afternoon.
TescoAsdaPetrol PricesOil PricesMorrisons