Diesel prices go past £6 a gallon

Fuel has soared past the £6 a gallon mark with a pipeline leak in Alaska triggering a rise in the cost of oil.

It comes as motorists across the West Midlands face fluctuating prices at petrol pumps across following last week's increase in VAT to 20 per cent.

The cost of unleaded and diesel was today still going up at some garages while being cut at others.

Nationally, outraged hauliers today revealed they were planning a possible protest blockade against the price rises, which have seen the cost of diesel soar past 133p a litre at some garages. The equivalent of £6 a gallon is 132p a litre.

At the Texaco garage, in Stafford Road, Wolverhampton, unleaded fuel was today 128.9p while diesel was at 133.9p. But at the BP Connect petrol station at the Swan Roundabout, Great Bridge Street, West Bromwich, unleaded was today down to £127.9 compared to £128.9 the day after the VAT rise came into effect last week.

Diesel, meanwhile has been trimmed from £132.9 to £131.9p.

BP spokesman Mark Salt said the company reconsidered the price rise last week.

He said: "We review prices at all our company-owned sites on a daily basis to ensure we are offering the most competitive price for our customers.

"Prices are based on local market conditions taking into account such things as the cost of getting the fuel to the particular site, the price of crude oil as well as the actual cost of producing the fuel."

VAT rose by 2.5 per cent to 20 per cent last Tuesday increasing petrol prices and pushing the average price of a pint of beer through the £3 barrier for the first time.

The rise is expected to cost families up to £520 extra a year overall.

The price of petrol has also been pushed up by the climbing price of oil, which rose over the weekend on news that BP and its partners had been forced to shut down the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System, which carries 15 per cent of America's oil, after a leak was discovered.