Wigan petrol station sign for 212.9p for ONE litre of diesel causes alarm among motorists

Wigan drivers were outraged when a petrol station sign on the forecourt showed it was charging 212.9p a litre for diesel.

The BP garage, on Scot Lane in Wigan, was also seen selling petrol for 197.9p a litre.

Currently average prices of unleaded petrol nationally are around 182p a litre while diesel sits at around 189p a litre.

It sparked anger among Wigan motorists struggling to cope with the rising cost of living when one local posted a photo of the illuminated sign on Twitter.

One man tweeted “Imagine my surprise, when passing the BP station on Scot Lane, I saw what their prices were

“We are all struggling but it would appear, when compared to other fuel companies, that BP don't care.”

However, bosses have since explained the prices were “incorrect” and they were “swiftly changed”. The sign later showed diesel as 195.9p and petrol 197.7p.

BP does not set the prices for four borough petrol stations operated by a third-party company – with the Scot Lane branch run by Park Garage Group.

A spokesman for Park Garage Group said: “The price was incorrect on the poll sign. Staff at the site swiftly changed this to the correct prices after realising it was incorrect.”

A spokesman for BP said: “We aim to price fuels competitively and monitor the prices we set daily at the sites we operate.

“There are around 1,200 BP branded retail sites in the UK – BP owns and operates just over 300 of these.

“BP only sets the pump price at these retail sites we operate and we aim to price competitively with other sites in the local area.

“We monitor our fuel prices daily on a site-by-site basis. Fuel prices take into account the local market conditions, cost of operations and the cost of delivering fuel to a particular retail site or area. In addition, taxes - duty and VAT - make up a significant proportion of price.

"Around 900 of the 1,200 BP branded sites are operated by independent dealers to whom we supply fuel and branding.

"At those sites, the price is decided by the operator not BP.”

A version of this story appeared on our sister title Wigan Today.