Fuel sales have declined as drivers make fewer trips due to higher pump prices, a service station operator said.
The Ascona Group, which owns 60 UK petrol stations, said the amount of fuel it sold fell by 200,000 liters this week compared to pre-pandemic levels.
Chief executive Darren Briggs said customers would be making £20-30 worth of fuel purchases “that last a little bit longer”.
Prices have recently reached record highs due to high oil prices.
The price of Brent crude – the global benchmark for prices – has soared in recent months after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine raised concerns about possible global supply problems.
The Office for National Statistics said on Thursday the UK economy contracted 0.1% in March and said higher prices, including those at the pump, were “really starting to bite”.
Mr Briggs, of the Ascona Group, which employs around 800 people, told BBC Today that fuel sales volumes have fallen by 6-8% over the past six weeks – a similar period when global oil prices have been high.
“Before Covid we would be selling about 2.8 million liters a week, we’ve gone down to about 2.6 (million),” he said.
“We’re seeing our customers holding onto their £20-30 worth of fuel purchases a little longer.”
According to the RAC, every mile driven now costs 18.5p for petrol and 20p for diesel.
Unleaded petrol is currently averaging £1.65 a liter, up 2.75p since May 1, while diesel is at £1.79, a fraction of the previous record high of March 23.
Earlier this year, in response to higher fuel prices, the Government reduced the fuel tax on petrol and diesel by 5p per liter. It has said the reduction, which will last a year, will help drivers cope with rising fuel costs.
But Darren Morgan, director of economic statistics at the ONS, told the BBC people had already started to spend less in shops and cut back on car journeys due to high fuel costs at pumps in March.
The slowdown in March preceded the impact of higher energy bills in April, which has sparked fears among analysts that the UK economy is at risk of a recession – defined as the economy shrinking for two consecutive three-month periods – later this year.
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Last week, the Bank of England forecast that inflation – the rate at which prices are rising – could hit more than 10% by the end of the year.
Dame DeAnne Julius, a former member of the bank’s monetary policy committee that sets interest rates, told BBC Today that the UK economy “would be close if it didn’t actually go into recession”.
“My guess is that the Bank of England’s outlook is a bit bleak, but time will tell,” she said.
Dame DeAnne said the main reason for the surge in inflation was “global issues” such as the war in Ukraine, with Ukraine being a big food exporter and Russia being a big energy exporter.
She said the bank had “no alternative” but to raise interest rates.
“Recession sounds like a very scary word, but actually we’re talking about some sort of flat fodder for a period of consumer readjustment. How they readjust [buying] cheaper food or more conscious energy saving,” she added.
“Basically, the economy is pretty solid, the banks are in good shape. We will not see anything like the 2008 financial crisis.”
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