UK petrol price graph and history

Unleaded peaked in the summer of 2022, in the months after the invasion of Ukraine. The lowest unleaded price in the series is 74.2p, in the week of 14 Jul 2003. The sharpest one-week rise was 7.5p, in the week of 13 Jun 2022, and the sharpest fall 7.2p, in the week of 30 Mar 2020, as the first lockdown emptied the roads.

Both fuels pay the same duty, 52.95p a litre today, so the gap comes from the price of the fuel itself. Diesel cost more than unleaded in 1,207 of the 1,220 weeks since 2003. The widest gap was 34.0p, in the week of 13 Apr 2026. In the week of 19 Oct 2026 it was 24.8p.

Fuel duty and VAT changes since 2003

The date is the first Monday the new rate appears in the weekly series, which can be a few days after it took effect.

What a rise or cut would cost per litre, per tank and per year: fuel duty, the current rate and what a change costs.

The government figure comes from six companies, four oil companies and two supermarkets, who report their prices every Monday morning. It is weighted by how much fuel each one sells and covers about 60% of the market. Our own figure is the plain average of every station that reports to Fuel Finder, motorway services left out. On the 7 Mondays both exist, ours was on average 0.2p higher for unleaded. For a daily figure and the towns where prices moved most, see UK fuel price trends.

• Cheapest stations in the UK
  The 20 cheapest and most expensive today.
• Cheapest fuel near you
  Stations ranked by price and distance.
• UK fuel price heat map
  Where fuel costs more, region by region.
• Fuel price trends
  The daily average, and the towns that moved most.
• Petrol prices by town
  Every town with three stations or more.
• Motorway fuel prices
  What the services charge on top.
• The Fuel Finder scheme
  The law behind live prices, and how brands keep up.