Petrol station bosses urged to back new PumpWatch — and stop treating motorists as ‘cash cows’

Petrol station bosses have been told to support a new PumpWatch – and stop treating defaulting drivers as “cash cows”.

Energy Secretary Grant Shapps has urged retailers to join a voluntary scheme agreed yesterday that will see daily service station prices logged into a central database.

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Regulators have given companies the green light to publish prices, which comparison sites and apps can then use to make it easy for motorists to find the cheapest fuel near them.

Mr Shapps urged retailers to “play along” before ministers make the price comparison initiative mandatory.

This comes after retailers were revealed to be pocketing £900million in falling wholesale fuel costs rather than passing it on to motorists.

Mr Shapps said: “For too long motorists have been treated as cash cows.

To encourage competition and make it easier for customers to decide where to fill up, retailers are asked to publish their price information on a daily basis.”

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said the voluntary system will provide more recent pricing data.

FairFuelUK’s Howard Cox said: “We have worked tirelessly with The Sun for 13 years to finally enforce honest and transparent petrol and diesel prices at UK forecourts.

“Prices affect inflation, so I’m pleased that CMAs have taken notice of my PumpWatch proposals to stop opportunistic profiteering.

“It’s a step in the right direction.”