Subscribe to trusted local news
If you are accessing this story via Facebook but you are a subscriber then you will be unable to access the story. Facebook wants you to stay and read in the app and your login details are not shared with Facebook. If you experience problems with accessing the news but have subscribed, please contact subscriptions@thestrayferret.co.uk. In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever. By subscribing, you can help us get the story right.
- Subscription costs less than £1 a week with an annual plan.
Already a subscriber? Log in here.
05
Mar
'How much?' New Harrogate garage’s fuel price leaves motorists fuming
A new garage on Harrogate has incurred the wrath of motorists after unveiling an eye-watering price for diesel.
Valero opened on the site of the former Texaco garage yesterday (March 4).
It immediately attracted disbelieving comments online after pictures were posted of it selling diesel at far higher prices than other nearby garages.
Some accused the company of ripping off motorists, who have long questioned why prices in the Harrogate district are more expensive than in nearby places.
Others questioned whether the photo was actually real.
The Stray Ferret decided to compare the prices of five forecourts within a one-mile radius in the north of Harrogate this morning. All prices were accurate at about 9am.
Here's what we found:
- Tesco: 132.9p petrol 142.9p diesel
- Shell (southbound on Ripon Road): 139.9p petrol 152.9p diesel
- Shell (northbound on Ripon Road): 138.9p petrol 152.9p diesel
- Valero: 137.9p petrol 163.9p diesel
- Asda: 136.7p petrol 148.7p diesel
Tesco's price at 9am on March 5.
Valero’s petrol prices were actually competitive — its 137.9p for unleaded was cheaper than the two Shell garages on Ripon Road but dearer than Asda and Tesco.
But there was far greater fluctuation with diesel prices — and Valero was easily the most expensive.
Its 163.9p charge for diesel was 21p a litre more than the new Tesco at New Park.
That means the cost of filling a 60-litre tank with diesel would cost £12.60 more at Valero than at Tesco.
Tesco was cheapest for both petrol and diesel.
A spokesperson for the AA said the government’s new pump-price transparency website Fuel Finder gave motorists the chance to fight back against high prices.
They said:
"Canny drivers can locate the lower-priced ones and fill up there. The world is changing with Fuel Finder, due to be fully up and running by May, and retailers will have to adapt or lose customers.
"Fuel Finder provides updated datasets of pump prices across the UK regularly throughout the day."
We contacted American-owned Valero this morning to ask it to comment on claims that it was ripping off customers, but have not yet had a response.
Middle East fears
According to the RAC, the average price for petrol yesterday was 135.2p and the average diesel price was 145.6 — 18p less than Valero is charging in Harrogate.
There are concerns about the impact of conflict in the Middle East on prices.
Simon Williams, head of policy at the RAC, said:
The average price of petrol has increased by nearly 2.5p a litre since Saturday and diesel by more than 3p on the back of oil surging above $81 a barrel - a price not seen since January last year. Providing oil stays around this level the average price of petrol shouldn’t really rise to more than 136p. Diesel, however, is increasing at a faster rate.
1