Two BP garages facing each other on the same road charge different prices for petrol 

They stand on opposite sides of one of the busiest roads into London. But in price they are poles apart.

Motorists stopping at the BP garage on the way into the capital are being charged £1.50 more to fill up than those heading out and dropping into the BP garage on the other side of the road.

The BP garage on the A4 eastbound – just before the Hammersmith Flyover – charges 131.9p per litre for unleaded.  

The one on the westbound side charges 128.9p. That’s a £1.50 difference on a 50-litre tank in a typical family car.

The BP garage offering a cheaper fuel price is operated by the oil giant

Motor Fuel Group is being pressed to explain why a BP petrol station is charging an extra 3p-per-litre compared to the same garage across the road, which is operated by the oil giant

Despite this both forecourts were charging the same for diesel – 134.9p per litre. 

It is one of the more glaring examples of the apparently arbitrary way fuel is priced at forecourts that baffles motorists.

In the worst cases petrol stations can charge several pounds more to fill up than another one owned by the same company a few miles down the road. 

In this case, despite both being branded BP, only one of them – the cheaper one – is operated by the oil giant itself. The other is owned by the Motor Fuel Group. 

It is the second largest independent forecourt operator in the UK operating under the BP, Shell, Esso, Texaco, JET and Murco brands. 

Drivers on the A4 eastbound near the Hammersmith flyover could be pay up to an extra £1.50 to fuel their cars

Drivers on the A4 eastbound near the Hammersmith flyover could be pay up to an extra £1.50 to fuel their cars

The firm refused to give an explanation of why it charges 3p more a litre than its neighbour.

But customers were not impressed when the difference was pointed out to them. 

Jay Purohit, 36, said: ‘That’s really mad. People are doing this, and they’re getting away with it.’

Pensioner Valerie Miller said: ‘That’s pretty naughty. If it wasn’t rush hour I would go round the roundabout and go across the road.’

Examples of petrol stations charging significantly more for fuel than neighbouring forecourts are littered across Britain. 

One Sainsbury forecourt in Liphook in Hampshire on the A3 is charging 131.9p per litre for unleaded.

Just 20 miles down the road in Waterlooville, a Sainsbury’s forecourt charges just 10 per less per litre, at 121.9p.

This equates to £5 for a tank.

Luke Bosdet, from the AA, said: ‘Pump-price watching is second only to the weather as a UK obsession. 

‘And so, when one forecourt of the same brand charges significantly more for the same fuel and drivers can see it, the retailers shouldn’t be surprised when drivers lash out.’

Fuel retailers are facing accusations of failing to pass on a recent fall in the wholesale cost of fuel. 

Prices hit the highest level since September 2014 last month. Petrol now costs an average of £1.28 per litre, with diesel at £1.32 per litre.

Motor Fuel Group declined to comment.



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