The petrol industry is being forced to defend high prices at the pumps when oil prices have fallen.
Unleaded petrol is close to its record level, even though there has been a sustained fall in the cost of oil over the past four months.
Since 8 April, the cost of Brent crude has dropped by 18%, but the price of unleaded petrol has risen by 1.8%.
But the group that represents independent forecourts said that exchange rates were affecting prices.
This week unleaded petrol cost an average of 136.58 pence a litre across Britain's forecourts, figures show.
That is close to the record price of 9 May, 2011, when unleaded cost 137.43p a litre.
Diesel prices have remained steady over the same period, although they too are within 3p of a record high.
'Astronomical'
The Pepper family, from Bourne in Lincolnshire, is feeling the effect of high prices.
They had planned a camping holiday in August to visit family in South Wales, moving on to a campsite in Snowdonia.
But when they worked out the cost of fuel, they decided they could only afford to do one leg of their holiday.
"It is £70 to fill a tank now," says mum Louise Pepper.
"And it is a tank there, a tank up, and a tank back. It makes the cost of the holiday astronomical really."
As a result, they have decided to miss out on visiting Cardiff, and will be driving straight to North Wales instead.
Exchange rate
In its defence, the petrol industry points out that the price of a litre is only partially dependent on the cost of crude oil.
Oil v petrol prices
Date and percentage change Brent crude per barrel Unleaded petrol per litre
SOURCE: BLOOMBERG/EXPERIAN CATALYST
8 April, 2011
$126.65
134.17p
8 August, 2011
$103.74
136.58p
Percentage change
18% fall
1.8% rise
Some 60% of the price is accounted for by fuel duty and VAT. Another 10% is down to delivery charges, the cost of marketing, and profit margins made by both suppliers and retailers.
So only 30% depends on the cost of crude oil.
Refining costs and wholesale prices on any given day mean the price of petrol can vary beyond that.
Brian Madderson, of RMI Petrol, represents independent forecourts across the UK.
He says that an additional problem has been the exchange rate.
Oil is priced in dollars, and recently sterling has weakened against the dollar, in effect taking away some of the benefits of price falls.
"As a result we are not getting as much of the saving from crude oil prices as might be expected," he says.
Profits
The industry denies categorically that its members are making good profits from petrol sales.
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Start Quote
If they were making substantial margins, we would see more investment coming into the business”
RMI Petrol
Most independent forecourts make between two and four pence a litre.
In other words, when you fill up your tank, the petrol station will only profit by between £1 and £2.
"That is hardly sustainable," says Mr Madderson.
The only way most petrol stations survived was by having shops attached to them, along with car washes or cash machines, he says.
Even so, up to 500 forecourts a year are closing down.
"If they were making substantial margins, we would see more investment coming into the business, rather than going out of it," says RMI Petrol.
What next?
Some observers expect the fall in the oil price to filter through to forecourts within the next month.
Earlier this week, Asda and Morrisons took 2p off the price of a litre.
But despite the economic slowdown, there was upwards pressure on the price of crude oil this week, as the US revealed that its oil reserves were lower than analysts expected.
And even though fuel duty was reduced by 1p in April this year, the UK government is planning to make up for that with two increases in 2012. From 1 January, duty will rise by 3.6p a litre.
The government said that rise was purely to take account of inflation.
Then, in August, the duty will rise again, either by inflation, or by inflation plus 1p, depending on the price of oil.
The RMI believes that could mean around 8p a litre being added to fuel duty.
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