Supermarkets slash fuel prices for bank holiday

SUPERMARKETS have announced fuel-price cuts ahead of the August bank holiday getaway.

From tomorrow Asda, Sainsbury's and Tesco are all reducing the cost of their petrol by up to 2p a litre, with diesel going down by 1p a litre.

In Asda's case, this will take the price of its petrol to no more than 124.7p a litre, with diesel at 128.7p for diesel – its lowest prices since January 2011.

The AA said the average UK price of petrol yesterday was 129.71p a litre, with diesel at 133.74p – the lowest since mid-February 2011.

AA public affairs head Paul Watters said: "We have seen competitive independent retailers east of London selling petrol as low as 125.9p a litre recently."

He said the supermarkets' move would spur other retailers to follow suit.

RAC fuel spokesman Pete Williams said: "We've been calling for petrol and diesel prices to fall for some time following the decrease in wholesale prices and so this is a welcome move by the supermarkets.

"We would expect to see other retailers to follow in the coming days giving consumers a great opportunity to fuel up ahead of the bank holiday."

By Peter Woodman, Press Association Transport Correspondent