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02
Dec
Investigation: Why are Harrogate district fuel prices so high?
If you drive in the Harrogate district, you may have noticed that the cost of refuelling has gone up in recent weeks.
But how does it compare with other nearby places?
There have been widespread comments on social media, and even questions in Parliament by Harrogate and Knaresborough MP Tom Gordon, suggesting local people are paying more at the pumps than people elsewhere.
We have been looking at prices on the checkfuelprices.co.uk website today.
In Harrogate, the lowest price for a litre of petrol was 137.9p at Morrisons at Plumpton Park in Harrogate. It was the same at Morrisons in Boroughbridge and Ripon.
By comparison, the cheapest price in Leeds was 128.9p at Costco — nine pence cheaper. For those without a Costco card, it would be 131.9p.
Similarly, York’s Monks Cross Asda sells fuel at 131.7p per litre.
It means Harrogate motorists are paying considerably more for driving the same number of miles as drivers in Leeds and York.
Of the 10 cities/towns that we examined for fuel prices, including affluent areas such as Chester and Gloucester, Harrogate had higher fuel prices than all of them.
Harrogate was even more expensive than many parts of London. A litre of petrol at London’s Dunton Road Tesco was 135.9p.
So, why are our prices so high?
'A cosy relationship between retailers'
The Stray Ferret asked motoring organisation The AA if it knew why costs were so high in the Harrogate district.
A spokesperson said:
What you’re describing is a problem that pops up around the country and, in my opinion, is inexcusable.
Fuel stations, including supermarkets, price their fuel locally. You can go into your superstore and you will find that essentials like milk, bread, etc, are pretty much the same wherever you go. Not with fuel!
You can’t call it a cartel, but fuel stations watch each other's prices within a certain distance and set their prices accordingly. And so, if you have a town with poor competition, there is little incentive to charge the pump prices in the cheaper town or city down the road.
What’s going on in the expensive places is a cosy relationship or understanding between retailers that, in essence, gives each other permission to charge higher prices.
However, there may be light at the end of the tunnel for Harrogate residents.
The government is implementing a Fuel Finder scheme, due to start in February.
Fuel Finder will be a live, station-by-station fuel price tracking system that the public will be able to access online. It legally requires all UK fuel stations to report pump price changes to a central database within 30 minutes.
It will then show users where the cheaper fuel stations are and direct users to them.
The government hopes that this will improve competition, with some fuel stations potentially offering lower prices to attract customers at quieter times.
But will it work?
Tom Gordon MP: 'Persistent and unjustified disparities'
Liberal Democrat Harrogate and Knaresborough MP Tom Gordon first posed a ministerial question on local fuel prices last year.
Now he has written to the Department for Business and Trade demanding ‘clarity’ and ‘fairness’ regarding Harrogate’s fuel prices.
His letter said his constituents faced "persistent and unjustified disparities" and questioned whether Fuel Finder alone will be enough to tackle the problem.
His letter added:
Harrogate and Knaresborough are thriving but relatively self-contained towns on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales. If all local providers continue to charge similarly high prices, residents will have little option but to pay them.
My concern therefore remains that the Fuel Finder scheme, in isolation, will not address the structural lack of competition that drives consistently high prices in constituencies like mine. I would welcome your assurance that the government intends to consider additional measures to regulate fuel pricing and prevent rural and semi-rural areas from being unfairly disadvantaged.
My constituents deserve clarity and fairness. I therefore ask for confirmation that this long-promised reform will proceed without further delay and that it will properly account for the regional disparities that have been overlooked for far too long.
Harrogate residents will be hoping something addresses the inequality soon.
In the meantime, it may be wise to time your fill-up with a shopping trip to Leeds or York.
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