{"id":380697,"date":"2026-04-15T13:09:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T13:09:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/380697\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T13:09:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T13:09:08","slug":"uk-drivers-given-petrol-and-diesel-warning-over-2-a-litre-prices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/380697\/","title":{"rendered":"UK drivers given petrol and diesel warning over \u00a32 a litre prices"},"content":{"rendered":"

UK drivers are being warned that a \u2018real crisis\u2019 at petrol<\/a> stations will start at the end of April or start of May.<\/p>\n

Although soaring petrol prices have already hit 158p per litre of unleaded and diesel has climbed to 191.5p, the worst is yet to come, according to Professor Nick Butler, former vice-president of strategy at oil titan BP.<\/p>\n

US-Israeli military action in Iran since February has seen the price of oil reach record levels, with prices up more than 60% so far this year as the blockade of the vital Strait of Hormuz shipping route continues.<\/p>\n

He warned that diesel<\/a> prices could still rise \u2018a great deal\u2019 above \u00a32 a litre.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cThe real crisis for Britain and for Europe will come at the end of April and in early May, when the real shortage will translate into both a physical shortage and a sharp rise in prices.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think we\u2019ve yet seen the full impact on prices of this loss of supply.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked if the price of diesel could climb higher than \u00a32 per litre, he said: \u201cIt could go a good deal north of that.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe jet fuel prices doubled, and I think that could go further north as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there\u2019s been a degree of complacency and a belief that Mr (Donald) Trump would always come back into line and there would be a deal, and then everything would be OK.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked if the Government should issue recommendations to work from home, Prof Butler said: \u201cYes, I think that that would be a perfectly sensible measure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Figures released by banking giant Barclays showed drivers ignored pleas not to panic buy in the immediate aftermath of the Iran war, with spending on fuel increasing by 10.9% in the week following the US and Israel<\/a> attacks on Iran first beginning on February 28.<\/p>\n

Motorists hurried to fill up their tanks amid concerns over supply and prices as the cost of crude oil surged above $100 a barrel.<\/p>\n

The government and the AA urged drivers not to ‘change their refuelling routine’ as prices first jumped.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UK drivers are being warned that a \u2018real crisis\u2019 at petrol stations will start at the end of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":380698,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[138,54239,219,197923,168712,111,139,198015,69,22126,169030,93496,198014],"class_list":{"0":"post-380697","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-diesel","10":"tag-economy","11":"tag-iran-conflict","12":"tag-iran-israel-conflict","13":"tag-new-zealand","14":"tag-newzealand","15":"tag-nick-butler","16":"tag-nz","17":"tag-petrol","18":"tag-petrol-prices","19":"tag-strait-of-hormuz","20":"tag-uk-petrol-prices"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=380697"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380697\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/380698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=380697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=380697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=380697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}