The motoring advocacy group FairFuelUK has called on the government to reduce fuel duty without delay, citing pump prices for diesel having climbed past the £2-per-litre mark and an estimated running cost of 20p for every mile covered in a diesel vehicle. According to the group, pump prices had reached a level not previously recorded.

Figures used in the group's analysis placed the cost of filling a full family-car tank at £110, with a typical driver's annual fuel expenditure put at £2,020. No methodology for arriving at those figures was provided.

Government data placed the UK average at a somewhat lower level. Weekly road fuel data published by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero put the average diesel price at 199.52p per litre in the seven days from 5 October, a rise of approximately 17p from the 182.45p recorded in the equivalent period beginning 17 August. Across the department's records stretching back to 2018, no weekly reading had previously reached that level — the prior peak of 199.22p, set in July 2022, now sits below it. According to the same figures, each litre of diesel attracts a fuel duty charge of 52.95p.

FairFuelUK, which had called on ministers in August to abandon the 2030 prohibition on new petrol and diesel vehicle sales, stated that a trade arrangement between Putin and Trump on diesel — which it characterised as recently announced — would leave UK forecourt prices unchanged. No data on volumes or UK import levels were provided, though the group maintained that the quantities involved were too modest to move global supply while also cautioning that the arrangement could heighten price swings, given Britain's reliance on diesel shipped in from the United States.

Howard Cox, founder of FairFuelUK, argued that diesel drivers face an unfair financial burden. Petrol prices have crossed the £2-a-litre threshold, pushing a full tank for a typical family car to around £110, while diesel drivers face running costs of roughly 20p per mile — or approximately £2,020 over the course of a year.

A spokesperson for the group put forward the position that drivers who rely on their vehicles to earn a living are already under pressure from rising pump prices, and that any US-Russia arrangement on diesel supply would function primarily as a political signal rather than a practical measure with the reach to reduce what British motorists pay at the forecourt — and might, in some scenarios, result in higher costs. The volumes under discussion are modest and, in the group's assessment, unlikely to make a meaningful dent in the diesel supply constraints currently affecting UK drivers.

Cox noted that Britain's dependence on American diesel imports leaves motorists exposed to price increases whenever US supply patterns shift, and argued that policymakers had taken no meaningful action to ease the financial burden on households, hauliers, tradespeople, and farmers facing steep fuel costs. He attributed the present difficulties to a combination of decisions taken by foreign governments and a lack of domestic preparedness.

FairFuelUK set out six specific demands, calling on authorities to stabilise diesel supply, reduce fuel duty, and end what it described as the practice of placing an excessive financial burden on drivers to compensate for policy shortcomings. The group's requests to the government cover three areas: a reduction in fuel duty to take effect without delay, assurances that diesel supply routes will remain dependable, and greater transparency about how import flows are tracked and reported.

The group's document additionally pressed for PumpWatch to be made operational in curbing opportunistic price exploitation, while urging that the Competition and Markets Authority be directed to scrutinise the transparency of the fuel supply chain. Oversight of the sector falls within the CMA's existing remit. A report on enhanced road fuel monitoring, released on 18 August, examined how conflict in the Middle East had bearing on what UK motorists paid at the pump and on retailer margins during May and June.

Two further demands put forward by the group concern backing for the UK's logistics, trades, and farming industries amid what it described as worldwide fuel supply disruption, alongside formal acknowledgement that diesel drivers play a productive role in the national economy rather than serving as a source of tax revenue.

Figures released in April by comparison platform The Van Insurer pointed to a 143 per cent rise in UK Google searches for electric vans over the course of March, with the company's commercial director, Ed Bevis, linking the increase to a combination of tightening regulations and cost pressures that operators of diesel vans have been navigating.