THE owner of a petrol station which is making headlines for selling fuel at rock bottom prices has said he’s baffled why other stations aren’t doing the same.
Bailey’s Garage in Abergavenny, Wales, has been attracting motorists from afar after it started selling unleaded petrol for 169p a litre.
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On Friday, it reduced its prices even further to 167.9p, Wales Online reports, making it around 20p cheaper for unleaded than most supermarkets.
According to the RAC, the current average price for unleaded is around 187p.
However, wholesale petrol prices that peaked above £1 a litre on June 1 fell to below 80p a litre over two weeks ago.
At the time the AA said the change could see the cost of a tank drop by £10 within a fortnight.
But Luke Bosdet, the AA’s fuel price spokesman, also warned the predicted savings would only come “providing the fuel trade is prepared to pass them on”.
Bailey’s Garage’s owner, Ian Bailey, said for him it only seemed fair to pass on the falling wholesale cost of fuel prices to consumers.
He added: “I’m wondering as well why other people haven’t dropped their prices.
“I can’t see why we’re so cheap. We’ve always been cheap. I could put it up to be the same as other garages and we would be laughing.
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“But times are hard and we like to pass on the drop to the customer.”
Ian said he was four times busier than he had ever been in the 50 years he’d owned the garage after dropping his prices.
He said because supermarkets buy their fuel at least three weeks ahead, their prices were based on how much they bought it for then.
But, he added, this worked in reverse and there had been times where supermarkets had offered cheaper prices than his garage.
The petrol station owner said he wasn’t sure how much he was making from each litre, adding petrol stations rarely profited from fuel prices but were simply reacting to daily fluctuations in costs.
How can I spend less on petrol?
With petrol prices currently so high, it can add a big cost onto your budget.
It means it’s getting more expensive to take the kids to school or commute to work.
But there are some things you can do to reduce the cost.
You can always check petrol prices online before heading out to your nearest station.
Websites like Petrolprices.com let you search for petrol stations offering the best prices near you.
It’s free to use for your first 20 searches.
Having a full tank of petrol can weigh you car down, so sometimes it’s best to fill it up halfway as well.
Or you could try using a loyalty scheme – many petrol stations operate them and they could see you racking up points which could be used to buy your petrol.
