Drivers are being warned to expect higher prices at fuel pumps as the cost of petrol has reached a two-year high. 

According to government figures, the average price of petrol is currently £1.29 per litre – a figure that hasn’t been seen since June 2019, according to the PA news agency. 

Diesel prices aren’t faring much better either, with an average of £1.32 per litre, which is the most expensive since January 2020. 

It represents a sharp increase compared to the low prices seen in May 2020 when the coronavirus pandemic led to a collapse in the value of oil worldwide, due to reduced usage. At the time, the average price of petrol sat at just £1.05 per litre, and £1.12 per litre for diesel. It means that the average cost of filling up a typical 55-litre car has now increased by around £13 for petrol and £11 for diesel. 

Steve Gooding, director of motoring research charity the RAC Foundation, said: “Petrol and diesel pump prices have now risen every week since the middle of last November – almost seven months in total.

“The increase is being driven by demand for oil with Brent Crude now above 70 US dollars a barrel compared with around 20 US dollars a barrel a little over a year ago.

“This in itself mirrors the rise in travel with weekday car traffic in the UK now back to where it was pre-pandemic.

“It looks like people who are looking forward to getting out and about in the good weather we’re having, eagerly awaiting the ending of the remaining Covid restrictions, will have to dig ever deeper into their pockets to fill up the family car if, as seems likely, the cost of forecourt fuel keeps on rising.”