{"id":473972,"date":"2026-03-13T19:39:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T19:39:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/473972\/"},"modified":"2026-03-13T19:39:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T19:39:09","slug":"uk-petrol-retailers-claim-inflammatory-language-of-ministers-led-to-staff-abuse-petrol-prices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/473972\/","title":{"rendered":"UK petrol retailers claim \u2018inflammatory language\u2019 of ministers led to staff abuse | Petrol prices"},"content":{"rendered":"

The trade body for the UK\u2019s petrol station industry has got into a row with the government after claiming the \u201cinflammatory language\u201d used by ministers to describe rising pump prices may have incited abuse against forecourt staff.<\/p>\n

The Petrol Retailers Association (PRA) said ministers had for several days suggested that forecourts might be \u201cprice gouging\u201d and \u201cripping off\u201d motorists as global oil markets have surged in response to the war in Iran<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The group raised the concerns in a statement, saying it had pulled out of a meeting with Rachel Reeves<\/a> on Friday to discuss the rocketing price of fuel, blaming \u201cincorrect and inflammatory\u201d language from ministers.<\/p>\n

However, within hours the PRA, which represents the owners of 65% of UK forecourts, rowed back on its stance and agreed to join the planned meeting at 11 Downing Street on Friday afternoon.<\/p>\n

The chancellor was expected to meet industry leaders alongside Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, to tell them that the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) was on \u201chigh alert\u201d for any unjustifiable price rises at the pumps.<\/p>\n

The CMA said on Thursday that the fuel retailers had been \u201cput on notice\u201d <\/a>amid a wider government crackdown to stop bosses ramping up profits at the expense of consumers. Forecourt owners will be required to provide their revenue, costs and sales data to the watchdog, speeding up its review of fuel industry margins, which it initiated after the conflict two weeks ago.<\/p>\n

Fuel prices have risen at their fastest rate since 2022, reaching their highest level in 18 months on Friday, after the US and Israel began airstrikes on Iran almost two weeks ago. The surge in global oil market prices has caused petrol prices to increase by an average of 7.8p to 140.6p a litre, while diesel has risen by 16.8p to 159.18p.<\/p>\n

Miliband told the BBC on Friday that the government would not tolerate profiteering from the conflict and said the CMA was primed to step in to stop \u201crip-offs\u201d.<\/p>\n

Gordon Balmer, the PRA\u2019s executive director, said that \u201cincorrect and inflammatory\u201d language being used to describe the steady rise of pump prices this week had led to recent incidents of retail staff being abused by members of the public. Balmer said the abuse could have been \u201cprovoked\u201d by use of the terms \u201crip-offs\u201d and \u201cprofiteering\u201d.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cOur members are working hard in difficult circumstances making sure that motorists and businesses are getting the fuel they need at prices that are very competitive, on razor-thin or in some cases negative margins, which means they are losing money.\u201d<\/p>\n

Miliband\u2019s comments echoed earlier warnings this week from Reeves, who told MPs the government\u2019s fuel finder service had discovered that some petrol stations were charging \u201calmost 180p per litre while others were charging less than 130p per litre\u201d.<\/p>\n

After the 4pm meeting, a Treasury spokesperson said attendees had been in broad agreement that transparency helps consumers find the cheapest prices by boosting competition.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe chancellor and energy secretary highlighted the government\u2019s fuel finder rollout is being accelerated, with over 90% of the market now covered, and there was agreement that firms would provide more up-to-date information and pricing at more sites,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis would mean drivers can see, in real time, where the cheapest fuel is nearby.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The trade body for the UK\u2019s petrol station industry has got into a row with the government after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":473973,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-473972","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=473972"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473972\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/473973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=473972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=473972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=473972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}