Cheap fuel: price war could drag cost to £1 a litre

Fuel prices have plummeted in some areas to their lowest levels since 2009 as a result of a supermarket price war.

Aggressive discounting by supermarkets means motorists are paying as little as £1.03 per litre in certain parts of the country, according to the AA.

The average fuel price now stands at £1.25, but supermarkets are offering discounts of up to 20p a litre in order to attract customers. Admittedly there is a catch in that you have to purchase £50 of groceries to qualify for the reduced price, but it is good news nonetheless for hard-pressed motorists.

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Back in 2012, it cost around £71 to fill up the tank of a Ford Focus, but today the average cost is around £63.

And prices could fall lower still, with the price of crude oil falling sharply in recent months. Of course, there's no guarantee that will be passed on to motorists...

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Supermarkets play their part

Supermarkets have been slashing forecourt prices as part of their wider effort to win back grocery customers from discount rivals Aldi and Lidl.

Earlier this month, Sainsbury's and rival Asda cut the price of diesel by up to 2p a litre and unleaded petrol by a penny from today.

Tesco, which is Britain's biggest petrol retailer with about 500 petrol stations, cut unleaded petrol by 1p per litre, with diesel reducing by at least 1p a litre although some sites will get a 2p a litre price cut.

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