Fuel prices condemned

Motorists received another blow earlier this week when Labour's Commons motion to have the planned January 3p-a-litre fuel duty rise deferred was defeated.

However there is speculation that Chancellor George Osborne will announce a postponement of the rise in his autumn statement next month.

The AA have said that drivers and businesses are still being short-changed, despite the threat of an Office of Fair Trading (OFT) investigation of the road fuel market.

On average, the cheapest petrol at the moment is in Yorkshire and Humberside (134.3p a litre) and the most expensive is in south-east England at 135.7p.

Yorkshire and Humberside also has the cheapest diesel (141.0p) with Northern Ireland the most expensive (142.6p).

Petrol prices have fallen but drivers are still being short-changed, according to the AA.

Average petrol prices have gone down from 138.95p a litre in mid October to 135.08p now, with diesel dropping from 143.74p a litre to 141.89p.

But the fall in wholesale petrol prices across Europe should have knocked UK pump prices down by 10p to 11p a litre, the AA said.