UK motorists face rising petrol and diesel prices ahead of the summer holidays as wholesale costs climb, reversing weeks of relief. Average unleaded costs reach 151.0p per litre, while diesel hovers just below 165p, driven by international tensions and disrupted supply chains.
Fuel prices at British forecourts are heading upward once again, delivering an unwelcome blow to millions of motorists preparing for the summer getaway. The reversal comes after several weeks of downward movement that had brought brief relief to drivers navigating volatile energy markets.
Forecourt Prices Climb Across the UK Ahead of Summer Travel
Across the wider nation, thesun.co.uk reported that forecourt averages mirrored this upward trajectory just as schools shut for the summer break, triggering what travel monitors expect to be one of the busiest holiday traffic weekends since RAC records began, with a large number of drivers hitting the roads.
Geographic disparities remain stark across regions. Only the North East of England and Yorkshire and the Humber continue to record average petrol prices below 150p per litre, whereas Northern Ireland holds its position as the least expensive part of the UK for filling up a car.
Wholesale Pressure and Global Geopolitical Shocks
The sudden pump pain originates in wholesale markets. Wholesale petrol costs have jumped by between 3p and 4p per litre since the final week of June, spurred by renewed instability. Diesel costs have faced even steeper wholesale jumps exceeding 6p a litre, heavily influenced by international friction involving the United States and Iran alongside Russia’s ongoing ban on diesel exports.
Commenting on the outlook for travelers, Simon Williams, head of policy at the RAC, warned that holiday motorists should anticipate further upward movement.
“Drivers embarking on their summer getaways may well see slightly higher forecourt prices again, with both petrol and diesel likely to go up a couple of pence a litre more in the next week or so. The fate of pump prices here in the UK once again rests on whether there are further attacks between the US and Iran.”
Simon Williams, RAC head of policy
The Fuel Duty Lifeline and Historical Price Volatility
Market watchers emphasize that current pain points would be significantly worse without government intervention. Luke Bosdet, the AA’s spokesman on pump prices, highlighted the fragile nature of current affordability when evaluating market trends.
“Despite more than a penny coming off the average price of petrol over the past fortnight, drivers across the UK now face new increases heading towards the start of the summer holidays.”
Luke Bosdet, AA spokesman
Fuel costs have swung wildly over the past year. Petrol previously peaked at 159.7p per litre in May before descending to 150.7p in early July. Earlier in the spring, during the height of the US-Iran conflict, petrol spiked as high as 159p a litre while diesel surged to 192p a litre before a ceasefire brokered by US President Donald Trump briefly eased pressures.
To contextualize current expenses, Luke Bosdet noted that today’s prices remain well above the worst levels endured by drivers before the COVID-19 pandemic—when petrol sat at 142.5p and diesel at 147.9p in April 2012.
Ditching the Pump: The Shift Toward Electric Vehicles
Persistent pump volatility is accelerating behavioral shifts among vehicle owners. Government data indicates that electricity consumption by electric vehicles jumped by 30.7% between 2024 and 2025, with usage during the first quarter of the year showing a further 28.1% increase.
As Luke Bosdet observed regarding consumer sentiment, large numbers of car owners who are able to do so are actively ditching petrol and diesel for electricity and its more predictable costs
to escape the chronic unpredictability of forecourt pricing.
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