Petrol up by 6p a litre this year

Petrol now costs an average of 113p a litre – a rise of 6p since the start of the year.

The figure has risen from 82.6p during the petrol crisis of 10 years ago. Drivers are being encouraged to shop around as prices vary by up to 10p a litre around the county.

With another tax rise just weeks away, there are fears prices will soon get back to the record levels of July 2008 when the average was 119.7p.

At Leicester Forest East service Station on the M1, unleaded petrol costs 120.9p and diesel 121.9p per litre, but several locations, such as supermarkets, are selling it at £109.9, giving drivers an incentive to shop around for potential savings of about £5 per fuel tank.

Brendan McLoughlin, of website petrolprices.com, said: "With no huge leaps in price, no-one's going crazy about what's happening, but there is a lot of anger at the cost of petrol creeping up and up.

"In Leicestershire, people can save up to £4 or £5 a tank by shopping around."

The price of crude oil has increased, but the increase is also partly is also partly fuelled by American driving habits.

Prices typically rise in spring, when more drivers in the US take road trips. Oil refineries also add chemicals to gasoline to help it burn in warmer weather, pushing up the cost.

In Britain, fuel duty is due to rise by 1.12p a litre.

According to the AA, UK drivers have been hit much harder than others in Europe by petrol tax rises since the credit crunch started.

The motoring organisation said that since November 2008, fuel duty and VAT on petrol had gone up by 11.46%, compared with a Western European average of 5%.

An AA spokesman said: "Petrol and diesel are necessities for the majority of the population and businesses, yet are taxed as luxuries."

Motorist Carol Markham, 65, from Queniborough, said: "I think everyone's noticing the cost of petrol going up again.

"We have a Mercedes and a smaller car and you notice how much extra it's costing to fill a tank. I'm retired now so I'm only driving every other day. But I'm spending about £30 a month on petrol."

Steve Robinson, 43, from Wigston Fields, who commutes to Evington each day, said: "Even though I don't drive far I've noticed a gradual increase in how much I'm spending.

"I've recently bought a smaller car, which is a good move because you save so much on insurance and tax as well."

At the height of the 2000 fuel crisis, the average price for a litre of diesel in Leicestershire was 85.2p (£3.87 a gallon), according to the AA. Unleaded petrol cost September 2000 was 82.6p (£3.75 a gallon).

Do you know the cheapest/most expensive places in Leicestershire for petrol? E-mail "petrol" to:

newsdesk@leicestermercury.co.uk