Fuel prices in town 'unacceptably high' says Leighton Buzzard's MP as residents drive to Dunstable to fill up

Leighton Buzzard's MP has written to the Competitions and Markets Authority arguing that petrol prices are "unacceptably high" in town compared with other parts of the country.

Andrew Selous MP says some companies have been charging more in South West Bedfordshire for petrol than in their garages at close geographical locations - and told the LBO that some Leighton Buzzard residents have even been driving to Dunstable to fill up because it's cheaper.

Mr Selous said: “With constituents feeling the pressures of the living costs crisis it is unacceptable that companies are trying to increase profits off already high petrol costs.

"I implore these companies to drop their price back down in line with the true market value before the Competitions and Markets Authority have to take action.

"We have had this issue of prices being higher in Leighton Buzzard some time ago, and I met with some of the petrol retailers and raised it in parliament.

"Not wanting to claim undue credit, but it did get better again and for a couple of years, it seemed, the prices matched elsewhere.

"At the moment, however, this is not the case.

"I was in Leighton Buzzard recently, and while it was £1.74/£1.75 in Dunstable, only seven/eight miles away in Leighton Buzzard it was £1.83 and £1.81.

"I'm very, very unhappy. I know of Leighton Buzzard residents who are driving to Dunstable to fill up and that is simply not on."

Mr Selous informed that LBO that data from July 1, 2022, has shown that the cost of unleaded petrol per litre in both Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire is over 2p cheaper on average.

Diesel costs are also less in both Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire at 0.87p and 0.75p cheaper per litre on average.

However, Mr Selous states that there have been cases of the difference being even higher than that.

He said: "Over a ten-day period in the last month unleaded petrol purchases made differentiated by almost five pence a litre with the Asda in Bletchley charging (189.7P/L), the Shell at Porthmadog (189.9 P/L) and the Tesco in Aylesbury (188.9 P/L) at which time both Tesco and Shell in South West Bedfordshire were at 193.9 per litre."

Mr Selous confirmed that he has also written to Shell, BP, Morrisons and Tesco about the issue.

He added: "I am very, very unhappy. It's not on that people in Leighton Buzzard and Leighton-Linslade are just landed with more expensive fuel, at a time when so many other prices are higher. I am not going to let it rest.

"What upsets me is that Leighton Buzzard is a town that is about eight miles [from anywhere] and I think people think they can take advantage of that."

What the fuel companies said

A spokesman for Morrisons 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."

Tesco told the LBO that it regularly monitors fuel prices throughout a local area to ensure it’s providing competitive prices for its customers.

A Shell spokesman said: “There are some useful FAQs online.

“The fuel duty cut reduction announced by the government in March was passed on to all Shell company owned sites immediately.

“We are only able to control prices at the sites we own; of our UK network, just over half is owned by independent dealers, who set their own prices.”

A BP spokesman said: “There are around 1200 BP branded retail sites in the UK. bp own and operate just over 300 of these.

“BP sets the pump price at these retail sites we operate, and there we aim to price competitively with other sites in the local area.

“Around 900 of the 1200 bp branded sites are operated by independent dealers to whom we supply fuel and branding. At those sites, the price is decided by the operator, not bp. As such, we’re unable to comment on their prices.

“Our pricing policy within each local trading area reflects the location of the site, its facilities, and the competition.

"We monitor our fuel prices daily on a site-by-site basis which can be affected by local competition, product prices quoted on the international markets and exchange rate variations. Fuel prices take into account the local market conditions, cost of operations and the cost of delivering fuel to a particular retail site or area.

"In addition, the Duty and Vat placed on fuel by the Government make up a significant proportion of price.”