Sainsbury's shoppers have been left fuming after the supermarket increased the prices of a particular service that nearly every driver uses at the petrol station.
The supermarket giant has recently increased the cost of its tyre pumping service by 20p, which will now see drivers using the service paying a total of 50p for five minutes.
It means that the supermarket is no longer offering drivers the cheapest prices for the service, as it used to charge just 30p for three minutes, reports The Manchester Evening News.
The price hike means that Sainsbury's has now joined Asda, Morrisons and Tesco who also offer 50p for the same service.
Infuriated shoppers have taken to Twitter to slam the supermarket for its "opportunistic" price hike amidst the soaring cost of living.
One person slammed: "The tyre pressure machine at @sainsburys Banbury went up from 30p to 50p. It has always been 30p. Now they hike it 66%. Same machine. Just a sticker over the price. OK, it’s a small thing. But there are so many opportunistic price rises happening now."
A second shopper responding to the Twitter thread agreed: "We’re getting well rinsed. I wouldn’t be surprised if the supermarkets start charging admission."
Sainsbury's said that the charge, which came into effect back in July, is in line with the wider marketplace and came as a response they received from customer feedback.
A spokesperson told The Mirror: "Back in July, we started offering customers five minutes rather than the previous offer of three minutes, with each minute remaining at 10p per minute.
"This is in line with the wider market offering and based on customer feedback."
It is recommended that drivers check the pressure of their tyres every two weeks as underinflated or overinflated tyres can be dangerous, according to The AA.
The latest price hike comes as Sainsbury's warned shoppers are "watching every penny and every pound" as food prices continue to rise. Chief executive Simon Roberts said life is “tough for millions of households” who are also battling against sky-high energy bills.
The supermarket recently revealed its pre-tax profits fell by 8% to £340million after being hit by higher costs and higher wages. Sales rose by 4.4% to £16.4billion in the six months ending in September.
Mr Roberts said: "We know [customers] are relying on us to keep food prices as low as we can. We will have invested more than £500million by March 2023 in keeping prices lower by cutting our costs at a faster rate than our competitors, meaning we have more firepower to battle inflation.
“Over the past year and a half we have consistently passed on less price inflation than our competitors and I am confident we have never been better value.”
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