Petrol hits highest price in 28 months as Deeside tracker maps cheapest forecourts
Drivers in Deeside and across Flintshire can now compare petrol and diesel prices at nearby forecourts in near real time, after the government’s Fuel Finder scheme began delivering live price data through a range of apps and websites.
The scheme requires all UK petrol stations to report their prices to a central government database, feeding data into tools including Confused.com, DriveScore, Fuel Finder UK, Fuel Spy, MotorMouth, PetrolPrices.com and RAC Fuel Watch.
Deeside.com has had its own fuel price tracker running on the same government data feed since the scheme launched, available at deeside-fuel-prices.netlify.app, which updates every two hours.
A price list page shows all stations in Deeside, Flintshire and Chester ranked by cost, with a breakdown of the five cheapest and five most expensive locally set against the UK average.
The tool is free to use, requires no sign-up and carries no advertising.
Apps and websites using the government data are only as good as the prices forecourts choose to submit, however.
The Times has reported that 20% of petrol stations were not updating their prices weekly, 15% had not reported a single pump price since the regulations came into force in February, and a further 10% had yet to be uploaded to the service at all.
Under the scheme, stations are required to report price changes within 30 minutes, but compliance is patchy and some local prices in the government feed are up to a week out of date.
Building the Deeside.com tracker had its own complications.
Access to the government API required several exchanges with the development team over a number of issues.
Early versions of the tool required downloading a spreadsheet of all 7,500 petrol stations in the UK and filtering out those in the local area.
The Deeside.com tracker now excludes any station that has not published a price update in the past three days, to reduce the risk of showing prices that no longer reflect what drivers will find at the pump.
The government says the scheme could save drivers an average of £40 a year by helping them find cheaper stations locally.
Pump prices have risen sharply since the outbreak of conflict in the Middle East on 28 February 2026, making that potential saving more relevant to local drivers.
RAC Fuel Watch data shows petrol has risen 19.2p a litre since then, reaching 152.01p on 30 March, a 14.4% increase and the highest price in 28 months.
Diesel has risen 38.8p a litre over the same period, hitting 181.2p, a 27.3% increase and a price not recorded since December 2022.
For drivers, the cost of filling a typical family car has risen by £10.55 for petrol and £21.35 for diesel compared to before the conflict began.
RAC head of policy Simon Williams said: “Average petrol prices have now reached 152p a litre, the highest in 28 months, while diesel has exceeded the 180p mark to hit 181.2p, a price we’ve not seen since December 2022.
“Compared to the start of the Iran conflict, it costs £10.55 more to fill up a typical family car that runs on petrol, and £21.35 more for a comparative diesel car.
“The financial strain on the eight-in-10 motorists that tell us they depend on their cars continues to build, and at a particularly rapid rate for those who drive diesel vehicles.
“We encourage drivers to continue to fill up as normal and use free apps such as myRAC to pay the lowest price possible each time they fill up.”
Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves said: “My priority is protecting family finances and standing up for drivers, and Fuel Finder puts power back into their hands.
“By giving drivers the information they need to see where fuel is cheapest locally, they can avoid being overcharged and continue to fill up as normal.”
Minister for Energy Consumers Martin McCluskey said the scheme had been introduced to force all petrol stations to share their prices, adding that the Competition and Markets Authority had confirmed it was stepping up its monitoring of petrol and diesel prices.
Check live fuel prices near you before you set off.
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