Price of diesel hits record £1.43 a litre

The price of diesel has reached record levels at the pumps, the AA said yesterday. The average price is now 143.1p a litre, climbing past the previous high of 143.0p a litre reached on 5 May last year.

The pump price of diesel fell back to 137.6p in July 2011 before starting to climb again. Two years ago, diesel in the UK averaged 113.6p a litre. The AA said that, for a commercial van with an 80-litre fuel tank, the cost of filling up has risen from £90.90 in February 2010, to £110.07 last July,and £114.44 now.

Over the same period, the average price of petrol rose from 112p a litre two years ago to a record high of 137.4p on 5 May last year.

It fell to 132.3p a litre at the beginning of last month before starting the climb to the latest average of 135.4p.

The AA president Edmund King said yesterday: "A stronger pound has staved off this moment for longer than might have been expected, but diesel drivers across the country will have been watching in trepidation... the impact of record diesel prices will be felt by everyone as higher transport costs are passed on to business and consumers."