MOTORING group RAC has said the cost of petrol is too high.

It has urged retailers to pass on falls in wholesale petrol prices to motorists, calling on them to cut forecourt prices by 2p a litre.

Last week, the Swindon Advertiser revealed that prices had increased dramatically at the town’s garages since early spring. More than 8p per litre was added to average pump prices between March 26 and May 23 at the big four supermarkets – Tesco, Asda, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s – according to the RAC Fuel Watch.

Sainsbury’s Bridgemead had the cheapest fuel prices, with unleaded petrol at 125.9p a litre and 128.9p a litre for diesel.

RAC spokesperson Rod Dennis said: “Our data shows that it’s high time retailers cut the price of petrol and diesel at the pumps - we see no good reason for them to wait before passing on savings they are benefiting from which have been brought about by falling wholesale prices.

“Motorists really felt the impact of rising in prices in May, when the cost of filling up a petrol family car jumped by around £3.30 in a single month. We are now well into June, and drivers are still waiting for some relief to rising prices.”

Retailers say that fluctuations in wholesale prices had pushed up prices. Brian Madderson, chairman of the Petrol Retailers Association, said: “We are in the middle of one of the most volatile periods of wholesale price movements we have seen for some time.”