Greedy oil giants ‘adding to cost of living crisis by not passing on falling wholesale prices’

GREEDY oil giants are adding to the cost of living crisis by not passing on falling wholesale prices, it was claimed yesterday.

Motorists are paying £16 more to fill up an average family car than last January, according to the AA.

And the Treasury is pocketing a 5p-a-litre tax windfall generated by Shell and BP’s high pump prices.

FairFuelUK’s Howard Cox said: “It will nauseate millions of drivers being fleeced at the pumps to see these companies add to the skyrocketing cost of living.”

AA president Edmund King said: “Families are getting hammered from all sides by rising energy costs, both in the home and on the road.

“The one place they should get some relief is at the pumps where wholesale fuel costs have crashed since mid-November.

“But, that has been denied to them as the fuel trade has hung on to most of the savings.”

Tory MP Craig Mackinlay said: “Hard-pressed motorists are paying more yet nearly £2billion in wholesale price falls have not been passed on at the pumps.”

A poll of 15,000 AA members found 43 per cent are cutting back on other essential spending or car use.

That rose to 59 per cent of youngsters and 53 per cent among low-income drivers.