Cheapest place to buy petrol in the UK has been announced

If your December payday feels like a distant memory and you’ve still got a while until your next pay lands, then you might be interested to know that the cheapest place to buy petrol in the UK has been revealed.

With the cost of living giving us all a bit of kicking, it’s a good idea to save some pennies where you can - whether that's checking the best time to renew your car insurance, or having a look if you’ve got any cash stashed away that you didn’t know about.

It’s also a good idea to shop around when it comes to paying for your everyday living expenses such as your energy supplier or supermarket.

And when it comes to petrol, the RAC Foundation tracks fuel prices so customers know the cheapest place to fill up.

After crunching the numbers, the RAC Foundation found that the cheapest place to buy your petrol was supermarket chain Morrisons, where it costs an average of 136.9p a litre for petrol and 145.5p for diesel.

Asda was in second place, at an average of 137.2p per litre of petrol, followed by Sainsbury’s at 137.3p and Tesco on 137.4p.

Pexels/Skitterphoto

At the other end of the scale was Shell, where it averaged 142.6p a litre for petrol and 151.2p for diesel.

This means, if you were filling up a 55-litre car, you’d save about £3 by opting for Morrisons over Shell.

The second most expensive was BP, at 140.8p for a litre of petrol and 149.6p for diesel.

RAC Foundation director Steve Gooding said fuel prices are often impacted by competition in the area.

He said: “While this data shows that on average supermarket-branded fuel is most keenly priced, as might be expected, motorists would still be best advised to shop around because the data also shows that prices are influenced by local competition.

Pexels/Gustavo Fring

“The transparency this data provides will give both motorists and ministers a better picture of the petrol and diesel market. Topping this price league table should give retailers cause for concern.”

Shell’s website explains that its difference in prices between locations is due to a ‘number of reasons’ and adds: “Shell is only legally able to control prices at company-owned sites, which constitute approximately half of the Shell-branded network in the UK.

“The other half of Shell branded service stations are owned by independent dealers who set their own prices.”