Britain’s shopkeepers and big retailers have welcomed a relatively busy start to the summer with falling pump prices encouraging drivers to fill up their tanks, and sales of summer clothes up thanks to warm weather.
The average price of diesel fell by 12p a litre in May – the largest drop seen by the RAC since it began tracking fuel prices in 2000. RAC data showed diesel fell from £1.59 to £1.47 a litre last month, dropping slightly further in recent weeks. Meanwhile, a litre of petrol is now around £1.44 – down from a high of around £1.91 a year ago.
On Monday, Next, the high street fashion giant, felt obliged to put out an unscheduled trading update following better than expected sales.
