By IRNA,
London : Petrol prices are set to go to record highs in Britain with an increase of one pence per litre in fuel tax due to take effect from April 1.
The increase will take prices to an average of just under £1.19 ($ 1.60) per litre for unleaded petrol, 11 pence more than at the beginning of the year and 40 percent higher than at the start of 2009, when the price averaged 85 pence.
“Motorists are currently seeing petrol prices rise on a daily basis. This fuel duty increase is only going to add to the misery as motorists see their hard-earned cash swallowed up at the pumps,” said Adrian Tink of the RAC motoring organisation.
“Worryingly, it’s now a case of when, rather than if, the record petrol prices will be broken,” Tink said, referring to the average price hitting £119.7 a litre in the summer of 2008 when oil price reached over $145 per barrel before falling back.
The RAC estimated that the current price of petrol equates to around £121 extra annually being spent in fuel costs for the average motorist car in the past three months.
Petrol prices have largely reflected the cost of oil in Britain even though an average of around 60 percent of the price is due to fuel tax adding to the cost.
Motorists in Britain have suffered from various peaks and troughs since 2006, when the average price of petrol was nearly half the current rates.