£10 difference in the cost of filling your tank

The huge variety in prices at petrol pumps across London is revealed today.

Experts predict motorists will see a series of price hikes over the next few months, as the price of crude oil spirals in response to attacks on Iraqi pipelines.

But research carried out by the Evening Standard shows there are already significant differences in the price of fuel around London.

The most expensive is being sold by Total at its Chelsea Cloisters station on Sloane Avenue, Knightsbridge. Drivers filling up there pay 99.9p per litre for unleaded and 93.9p per litre for diesel.

But if they were willing to take a twominute detour, they would be able to save a substantial 18p per litre for unleaded by using the Shell station on the nearby Old Brompton Road.

Motorists there pay 81.9p for unleaded and 83.9p per litre for diesel.

This represents a difference of about ?10 each time an average tank is filled.

Ironically, the cheapest petrol in London, highlighted in our survey of 40 filling stations across the capital and on the M25, is also sold by Total. A litre of unleaded at its branch in Hertford Road, Edmonton, is on sale at 79.9p - a price only matched by Esso in Camden Town.

A spokeswoman for Total, which is the fourth-largest oil company in the world, justified the differences by saying it was up to individual station managers to set their prices.

She added: "The retailer buys their product from us on a wholesale basis and is free to decide the most suitable pump prices for their business.

"In setting their price the retailer will take into account their local market conditions and costs associated with their business, such as local wage structures, rent and rates."

Ray Holloway of the Petrol Retailers Association added that people buying fuel could "vote with their wheels".

He said: "The customers that use Chelsea Cloisters know what price they are paying. The owner is an independent trader and has set his prices to cover his costs.

"The cost to him of running a filling

station in Chelsea is not the same as operating in Hackney. It doesn't compare. In Shell's case because it owns the station in the Old Brompton Road you have an independent trader against an oil company."

Rebecca Rees of the AA said motorists could save hundreds of pounds a year by shopping around, adding: "The average driver could save themselves ?9 every time they fill up if they go to a cheaper garage.

"Over a year that's a saving of the best part of ?500, assuming people fill up once a week. You could fly to Australia for that. If a person uses their car for business and fills up twice a week, that's a saving of ?1,000, or a new kitchen.

"It's worth shopping around if the price at one garage is ?1 per litre and another a few minutes away is 18p cheaper. Drivers should make the effort."