Driving will be just for the rich

CARS could soon become a preserve of the rich with petrol prices set to rocket to £8 a gallon, motoring organisations warned last night.

As the cost of oil continues to rocket it could cost 105 to fill your car As the cost of oil continues to rocket it could cost £105 to fill your car

As the crisis in the Middle East continued, analysts predicted the cost of crude oil could double, leaving drivers having to fork out more than £100 to fill up the average family car.

The RAC warned that prices at the pumps were already “unacceptable” and predicted more and more people will be forced to stop using their cars.

Adrian Tink, RAC motoring strategist, said: “It is clear that we are getting to the stage where drivers are going to be priced out of their cars. Before we know it the car will become the preserve of the rich.”

With fears that the unrest in Libya may soon spread to Saudi Arabia and Algeria, the cost of oil shot up again yesterday to $119 a barrel, its highest level for two-and-a-half years.

We are getting to the stage where drivers are going to be priced out of their cars

Adrian Tink, RAC motoring strategist

The effects will be felt on the forecourts within weeks, leading to an estimated 5p a litre increase in ­petrol prices by April.

If the crisis does spread, oil industry analysts warned crude oil could hit $220 a barrel. That would mean it would cost £105.50 to fill a 1.8-litre Ford Mondeo.

The AA warned that the Government was under intense pressure to scrap the impending 5p-a-litre rise in fuel duty due on April 1.

A spokesman said: “The motorist is going to have to brace himself for a storm.

“Prices are already starting to creep up and this puts intense pressure on the Government to scrap the fuel duty increase. They will already be getting significantly higher VAT from the higher prices on the forecourts anyway.”

Such is the concern over rising oil prices that Energy Secretary Chris Huhne attended yesterday’s special Government Cobra meeting to discuss the crisis in Libya.

The current average price of unleaded petrol in the UK is 129.05p. The expected 5p-a-litre increase will raise prices to around £6.10 a gallon. But if oil prices do shoot up to $220, the cost of a gallon at the pumps would hit £8. Commodity analysts at Japanese bank Nomura have compared the Middle East situation to the 1991 Gulf war, saying if Libya and Algeria were to halt production, prices could go above $220 a barrel.

Road haulage groups warned that the 15 per cent increase in oil prices since last week had left the industry facing “imminent disaster”.

Quentin Willson, of the pressure group FairFuelUK, called for immediate action by Chancellor George Osborne. “The planned duty increase is insane and could tip the economy towards a double-dip recession,” he said. “We implore the Chancellor to immediately announce that the rise is scrapped and that he will bring in urgent measures to stabilise prices.”

Peter Carroll, organiser of Fair­FuelUK, said: “Only last night I met Welsh hauliers who are in despair. This surge in oil prices will mean the end of long-established businesses.”

Transport company Wincanton yesterday called on the Government to allow the industry to use longer trucks to combat the crisis.

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