The average price of a litre of bulk diesel is just 0.75p off the all-time record set at the end of March last year, according to a survey of Road Haulage Association members.
Nick Deal, manager of logistics development at the RHA, explained that the falling exchange rate between the pound and the US dollar - which hit a 31 month low last week – is pushing up the price of diesel.
The RHA survey found that the average price of a litre of bulk diesel was 116.92p, compared to the record high set on 23 March 2012 of 117.66ppl.
Since January 2010 the average price of bulk fuel has increased by 24.4% - excluding VAT. Back in 2000, around the first fuel strikes, bulk diesel peaked at 70ppl.
Deal believed that for every five cents the dollar gained against the pound it added 2p to the price of a litre of diesel.
“After the UK credit rating was downgraded, the pound continues to fall. To help the industry to make the profit that is essential to survival, if ever there was a time for the Chancellor to act on fuel duty, that time is now,” he said.
