Fuel price signs for motorway service stations

8th January 2015

The Government is to press ahead with its plans to introduce signs on motorways that display the price of fuel at service stations.

The announcement was made as part of the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement, and the Department for Transport will begin work early this year on trialling a new fuel comparison sign at five pilot service stations on the M5 between Bristol and Exeter, with a view to rolling them out by the end of 2015.

The aim of the trial will be to see if the signs are effective in providing information to road users, and successful in bringing down prices.

“For too long, drivers have been ripped off by petrol prices on motorways,” Transport Minister Robert Goodwill said.  “This announcement will ensure people can see the cheapest places to fill up, encouraging greater competition between service stations.”

The trial follows a report by the Office of Fair Trading in January 2013 which called for more public information on UK petrol and diesel prices.  The OFT found that fuel sold at motorway stations was on average 7.5 pence per litre more expensive for petrol, and 8.3 pence/litre for diesel, than across the rest of the country.