OFT rule that the fuel markets are "working well"

A five-month long investigation by the Office of Fair Trading has ruled that the high level of fuel tax and increasing costs of crude oil causes higher fuel prices, not because fuel companies are manipulating the price of petrol and diesel as some have suggested.

It found "very limited evidence" that pump prices rise quickly when the wholesale price goes up but fall more slowly when it drops so it has scrapped plans to hold a full inquiry.