Petrol stations risk fines over Fuel Finder no-shows, says government watchdog
Drivers in Flintshire could save up to £9 a tank by shopping around, the Competition and Markets Authority has said as Fuel Finder enforcement begins.
The watchdog confirmed today that hundreds of UK petrol stations had been sent warning letters this week for failing to register with the government scheme, which requires every forecourt to report price changes within 30 minutes.
Stations that fail to register, or that submit inaccurate or out-of-date prices, now risk fines.
Deeside.com has run its own price tracker on the same Fuel Finder data feed since the scheme launched, available at deeside.com/fuel-price-map/ and updated every two hours.
The tracker shows live prices at forecourts across Flintshire, Deeside and Chester, and flags stations whose prices are out of date or that are not reporting at all.
Petrol prices have risen 26p a litre and diesel 50p a litre since the start of the conflict in the Middle East in February, the CMA said.
In its monitoring report published on Friday, the CMA said the price rises had been driven by wider cost pressures, especially higher oil prices, rather than a general increase in retailer margins.
Average retail fuel margins were 10.3p a litre for petrol and 10.7p a litre for diesel in March, broadly unchanged from February and close to the 2025 average of 10.7p.
A minority of retailers did see margins rise in March, the report said, with the CMA now investigating the reasons.
The watchdog is also examining a separate spike in the months before the conflict, when margins reached 12.7p a litre in December and January compared with 10.0p in November.
Sarah Cardell, Chief Executive of the CMA, said:
“The conflict in the Middle East has driven sharp increases in road fuel prices, putting real pressure on households and businesses across the UK.”
“The CMA’s job is to ensure these rises reflect genuine cost pressures, especially given our previous work showing competition among fuel retailers isn’t as strong as it should be.”
Cardell said the CMA had stepped up monitoring and would remain “vigilant to ensure any fall in costs is passed on quickly to motorists”.
She added that some individual retailers’ margins had risen in March, with the CMA investigating why and reporting further in May.
The CMA’s margin analysis is based on data from firms representing approximately 40 per cent of UK petrol stations.
Check live fuel prices near you before you set off.
Spotted something? Got a story? Email news (@) deeside.com
NEW: Add Deeside.com as a preferred source on Google to see more of our trusted coverage when you search.
Latest News
