The trade body for Britain’s petrol station industry is at loggerheads with the government after it claimed “inflammatory language” used by ministers to describe rising pump prices had incited abuse of court staff.
The Petrol Retailers Association (PRA) said ministers had suggested for days that forecourts could “increase prices” and “skip” motorists as global oil markets surged in response to the war in Iran.
The group raised concerns in a statement, saying it had pulled out of a meeting with Rachel Reeves to discuss rising fuel prices, which ministers accused of “inaccurate and inflammatory” language.
However, within hours the PRA, which represents 65% of UK forecourt owners, backed down and agreed to attend a meeting scheduled for Friday afternoon at 11 Downing Street.
The chancellor was expected to meet with industry leaders, along with energy secretary Ed Miliband, to tell them the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) was on “high alert” for any unjustified price increases at the pumps.
The CMA said on Thursday that fuel retailers had been put “on notice” amid a wider government crackdown to stop owners boosting profits at the expense of consumers. Forecourt owners will be required to provide their revenue, cost and sales data to the watchdog, which will review the fuel industry’s margins, which it launched two weeks ago after the controversy.
Fuel prices rose at their fastest pace since 2022, hitting an 18-month high on Friday, after the US and Israel launched airstrikes on Iran nearly two weeks ago. Petrol prices rose by an average of 7.8p to 140.6p a litre, while diesel rose 16.8p to 159.18p due to higher global oil prices.
Miliband told the BBC on Friday that the government would not tolerate conflict profiteering and said the CMA was intended to step in to stop the “escalation”.
The PRA’s executive director, Gordon Ballmer, said the “inaccurate and inflammatory” language being used this week to describe the continued increase in pump prices had led to recent incidents of public abuse of retail staff. Ballmer said the abuse could have been “incited” by the use of the terms “rip-off” and “profiteering”.
He added: “Our members are working hard in difficult circumstances to ensure motorists and businesses get the fuel they need at prices that are very competitive, at razor-thin or in some cases negative margins, which means they are losing money.”
Miliband’s comments echoed warnings this week from Reeves, who told MPs the government’s Fuel Finder service had discovered some petrol stations were “charging around 180p per liter while others were charging less than 130p per litre”.
Ballmer said on Friday evening that discussions had been “constructive” but there was no apology for the “inflammatory language” from ministers.
He said: “The meeting went very well. We had constructive discussions with the government on this and we are working closely with them.”
A Treasury spokesman said participants broadly agreed that transparency helps consumers find cheaper prices by increasing competition.
“The chancellor and energy secretary highlighted that the government’s FuelFinder rollout, which now covers more than 90 per cent of the market, is being accelerated, and agreed that firms will provide up-to-date information and pricing on more sites,” the spokesman said.
“This will mean drivers can see, in real time, where the cheapest fuel is nearby.”
