Making The Most Of It - 10 January 2016

There was a time, not long ago, when we thought fuel prices would stay high forever. Then, in 2015, they started to go down and, during the second half of the year, petrol and diesel prices flipped to make diesel cheaper for the first time in a long while. That flip was soon, scandalously, reversed but, as the year drew to a close, even the oil companies could not ignore the steadily falling price of crude.

I doubt that they felt either shame or guilt but, nevertheless, as 2016 arrived, prices of both fuels dipped below £1 per litre and, in many places, reached parity.

The relief of motorists was reflected in the scrum on the forecourt of ASDA Fareham at around 0920 on a Sunday morning before the store and main pumps had opened. The queue visible in this picture - except for the car second from the right which, inexplicably, was waiting at the pumps which would not open until 1000 - was for the pay at pump pumps.

200_2_P1080372