Filling up in Britain just got significantly more painful. The average price of diesel has crossed £2 a litre for the first time ever, hitting 200.01p according to RAC analysis — a whisker above Thursday's price and comfortably past the previous record of 199.09p set in June 2022 after Russia's invasion of Ukraine pushed prices up.
The driver behind this new peak is the conflict in the Middle East. With no deal in sight to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the critical oil and gas shipping route, prices have climbed steadily for weeks. Petrol has risen too, now averaging 174.71p a litre — around 42p more than before the conflict started.
The numbers add up fast. A full tank in an average family diesel car now costs about £110, roughly £32 more than at the start of the US/Iran conflict, while filling a typical petrol car sets you back around £96. The RAC puts the running cost of an average 45mpg diesel at 20p per mile, meaning someone driving 10,000 miles a year is now spending just over £2,000 on fuel alone.
RAC head of policy Simon Williams called it a threshold "no-one wanted to cross", pointing out the irony that diesel cars — long the default choice for high-mileage drivers and long journeys — are now the most expensive to run. He expects households to cut back and businesses, from hauliers to sole traders, to pass costs on to customers.
For anyone planning a driving holiday in or around the UK, this changes the maths. A campervan loop through Scotland or a cottage break involving long motorway hauls will now carry a noticeably bigger fuel bill than it would have even a few months ago, and prices could stay elevated while the shipping route remains closed. If you're hiring a car, it may be worth weighing a petrol model against a diesel one, since the fuel gap at the pump is now around 25p a litre. Drivers' groups are looking to the government to respond in October's budget, either by cutting fuel duty or reducing VAT, but there's no relief guaranteed before then.
Who should care: anyone road-tripping in Britain this season, especially those covering big mileages in diesel vehicles — the per-mile costs have rarely been higher.
