Let’s be honest: fuel prices are not exactly thrilling.
Nobody sits around thinking, “I wonder what the price of diesel is today.” But if you drive a petrol or diesel car, they matter – because every fill-up is another little attack on your bank account.
The good news? Petrol stations are now being forced to publish their prices in near real-time. Not instantly to the second, but close enough to give drivers a fighting chance.
Which, frankly, is long overdue.
At KnowYourCar, bringing fuel prices into the app was a bit of a no-brainer. If there’s an easier way to help drivers avoid overpaying, we’re interested.
And with everything going on in the Middle East right now, we thought it was worth digging into the data to see what’s actually happening at the pumps as of 17 March 2026.
Because while we all know fuel prices can be painful, the real question is: Are we being ripped off and can i avoid it?
The headline figures
Before we get into the weeds, here’s the bit that matters:
Biggest UK-wide saving in the data: £23.65 per 55L fill-up
Average difference within postcode areas: 17.2p per litre
Typical saving per tank: £9.46
Most expensive area for both petrol and diesel: EC London
So yes, it absolutely is worth checking before you fill up.
No, we’re not saying you should drive 40 miles to save £2.80 and then spend £4.20 doing it. But there is real money to be saved by not blindly pulling into the first forecourt you see.
A quick note on the data
To keep things fair, we removed motorway services from the analysis. They almost always charge far more than normal forecourts, so they don’t represent what most drivers should be paying day to day.
Where petrol is most expensive
Some parts of the UK are clearly getting hit harder than others.
Most expensive areas for E10 petrol
| Postcode Area | Average Price |
|---|---|
| EC | 147.4p |
| KW | 146.9p |
| CB | 144.9p |
| DA | 144.8p |
| SL | 144.5p |
Top 5 explained: EC (Central London), KW (Kirkwall), CB (Cambridge), DA (Dartford), SL (Slough)
Where diesel is most expensive
Most expensive areas for B7 diesel
| Postcode Area | Average Price |
|---|---|
| EC | 167.9p |
| W | 165.7p |
| SM | 164.3p |
| WR | 164.2p |
| BR | 164.2p |
Top 5 explained: EC (Central London), W (Central & West London), SM (Sutton & Morden), WR (Worcester), BR (Bromley)
Again, London dominates – which will surprise absolutely nobody who has ever tried to buy anything there.
And where is fuel cheapest?
There is also a clear gap at the other end of the market.
Cheapest areas for E10 petrol
| Postcode Area | Average Price |
|---|---|
| KA | 138.7p |
| TD | 138.0p |
| WS | 136.6p |
| BT | 135.7p |
| AL | 134.8p |
Top 5 explained: KA (Kilmarnock), TD (Galashiels), WS (Walsall), BT (Belfast), AL (St Albans)
Cheapest areas for B7 diesel
| Postcode Area | Average Price |
|---|---|
| HD | 159.4p |
| KA | 159.3p |
| WS | 156.0p |
| TD | 155.4p |
| BT | 154.9p |
Top 5 explained: HD (Huddersfield), KA (Kilmarnock), WS (Walsall), TD (Galashiels), BT (Belfast)
Depending on where you live, the average price you face at the pump can be noticeably different.
The wildest individual prices
Average prices are useful, but single sites are where things get properly eyebrow-raising.
Most expensive single sites
- Petrol: Esso Green Lane, Dordon, Tamworth : 171.9p
- Diesel: Esso Green Lane, Dordon, Tamworth : 184.9p
Cheapest single sites
- Petrol: Esco Tesco Express, Doncaster Road, Brayton, Selby : 131.9p
- Diesel: BP PRL Tweedbank, Gateway Drive, Tweedbank : 139.9p
Before we get too righteous…
Now, to be fair, high prices do not automatically mean a garage is up to no good.
Fuel stations buy stock at different times and at different wholesale prices. If one site has just had to replenish after a spike in costs, its pump price may jump sooner. Another might still be selling older stock bought more cheaply.
So yes, there are legitimate reasons for price differences.
But equally… let’s not pretend every forecourt in Britain is a selfless public service operating on razor-thin margins for the good of the nation.
This is exactly why fuel price transparency matters. It gives drivers the chance to see what’s out there instead of just accepting whatever number happens to be glowing on the sign by the road.
What do these price differences actually mean?
Let’s assume an average fuel tank size of 55 litres.
If you filled up at the cheapest site in the data instead of the most expensive, the saving could be as much as:
£23.65 per fill-up
That’s the extreme UK-wide example, so yes, it’s a bit dramatic. It’s not much use telling someone in the Shetland Islands that fuel is cheaper somewhere near Selby.
A more useful number is the difference within local postcode areas. When we looked at the gap between the cheapest and most expensive prices inside each area, the average difference came out at 17.2p per litre.
That works out to:
£9.46 saved on a 55L tank
And that’s not nothing.
That’s a decent chunk of money for what is basically 20 seconds of checking before you fill up. Do that regularly and it adds up fast.
Shop around – but use common sense
The lesson here isn’t to turn fuel buying into a military operation. You do not need a clipboard, a spreadsheet and a 14-mile detour plan to save 63p. But you also don’t need to blindly accept the first price you see just because you’re on autopilot and running late.
The smart middle ground is simple:
check first, then fill up.
If there are a few stations near you, the difference can be bigger than most people think.
Why we added this to KnowYourCar
This is exactly why fuel prices are now in the KnowYourCar app. You can quickly see the cheapest fuel near you using near real-time pricing data, and it’s a free feature.
No guesswork. No assuming supermarket fuel is automatically cheapest. No finding out afterwards that the station half a mile down the road was 8p a litre less. Just a simple way to keep a bit more money in your pocket.
What happens next?
In theory, this new transparency should make the market more competitive. If everyone can see what nearby stations are charging, it ought to put pressure on prices and make it harder for any site to quietly drift into cheeky territory.
But humans are humans.
A lot of people will still fill up at the easiest place, the nearest place, or the place they always use because they’ve been going there since 2009 and now it feels emotionally complicated to stop.
That’s fair enough.
But for the drivers who are willing to check, there’s now much less excuse for overpaying.
Final thought
Fuel prices may be boring. But getting overcharged for fuel is annoying. So next time you need to fill up, don’t just roll in and hope for the best. Take a quick look first.
Because while you might not be able to control global oil prices, you can avoid being the person paying far more than the garage down the road.
2 thoughts on “Fuel prices: depressing, unavoidable… and finally a bit more transparent”
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Many thanks for your very informative and helpful article, it is much appreciated, B Cook.
which I much appreciated,
This could see prices in local areas, charging the same high price everywhere.
Its racketeering. The day after the war started prices increased 3/4 per litre for petrol. This fuel was already in petrol stations, and the price has continued to rise ever since.
But that’s OK the public will foot the bill because the have no choice.
RACKETEERS.