Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has urged drivers to boycott petrol stations who refuse to cut prices.
His call comes after research by the AA found that petrol prices have only fallen by just 2.71p and diesel by a 1.59p since last Chancellor Rishi Sunak's Spring Statement 5p reduction last Wednesday.
“Help us with this," Mr Shapps said. "Shop around so that petrol stations learn that if they don’t pass this on, then they are going to lose business.”
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Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng has held held a call with petrol station giants to order them to act in line with the cut, after many drivers reported paying even more for fuel than they did earlier in the week, before the 5p tax cut.
Petrol and diesel prices had hit highs of 167.3p and 179.72p a litre respectively, before Mr Sunak’s announcement. The AA said that on Thursday the average price of petrol across the UK was 164.59p a litre, with diesel at 178.13p.
Motorists have contacted ChronicleLive to claim that forecourts, including those in the Alnwick and Berwick area, had not passed the cut on to their customers, and angry drivers have taken to social media to vent their frustration.
One person wrote on Twitter : "That 5p fuel duty will put prices to where they were last Thursday."
Another said: "So they’re freezing tax on booze and cigarettes but can’t do more than 5p off a litre of fuel when the tax is 57.95p a litre, nothing about council tax raises or food prices, or our gas and energy bills."
A third added: "I passed two petrol stations while out this morning. Both had raised their prices since yesterday - one by 4p and one by 5p a litre. So this is a cynical way to pre-empt Sunak’s 5p off?"
The cut means drivers are paying 52.92p in tax for every litre of petrol and diesel until March next year. In real terms, drivers should be paying 6p less per litre, not 5p, because the Government also charges VAT at 20% on top of fuel duty. But forecourts in many areas have been charging drivers the same as on Wednesday - and some are even charging more.
Across the UK overall, petrol prices fell just 2.71p, and diesel was down 1.59p, despite the 5p fuel cut. Average pump prices across the UK show petrol averaged 164.59p a litre and diesel at 178.72p a litre after the fuel duty cut came into force.
In the North East on Sunday, the cheapest petrol on petrolprices.com we could find within 20 miles of Newcastle was Costco Gateshead at 156.7p per litre and the most expensive at £166.9 per litre was at the Four Aces filling station at Whitemare Pool, Gateshead.
For diesel, most expensive at £1.89.9 per litre according to petrolprices.com was MGF North Road, in Gosforth, and the cheapest again at Costo Gateshead at £169.7 per litre.
The RAC has criticised the Chancellor for not going far enough, with head of policy, Nicholas Lyes, describing the cut as "a drop in the ocean" as it will "only take prices back to where they were just over a week ago".
While Luke Bosdet, the fuel price spokesman at the AA said motorists have to accept that, for many forecourts, the duty cut will come through with the next delivery of fuel, he agreed the size of the fall is very disappointing. “I expect the Government will be watching very closely to see if pump prices reflect more of the fuel duty cut over the weekend,” he said.
However, many any petrol stations have passed on the cuts. Asda, Tesco, Sainsbury's and Morrisons all lowered petrol prices from 6pm on the day of the announcement, leading to calls for other companies to follow suit. Big petrol chains are also understood to have cut pump prices, but garages owned by smaller firms and franchises have been worse at passing it on.
