THEY'RE TAKING US FOR FUELS

Fury as report shows we're being overcharged by ₤1.6bn | Greedy oil firms slammed as their profit margins soar

- DAN VEVERS

DRIVERS are facing "rip off" fuel prices due to forecourts bumping up their profit margins, a damning report has found.

Across Britain, motorists were overcharged to the tune of a staggering £1.6billion last year, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said.

Responding to the findings, Martin Shaw, a car trader in Glasgow, slammed corporate "greed" as he hit out: "It's ridiculous. Forecourt prices are forever going up and very seldom coming down."

The CMA's report warned motorists in Scotland and the UK are still paying too much for petrol and diesel - with retail margins "significantly" above historic levels.

Forecourt operators now make 6p a litre more in profits than they used to, despite oil prices falling from recent record highs.

The watchdog slammed the fuel market as continuing to "fail consumers" a year on from its initial report, which laid bare problems in the sector.

And it highlighted that retailers' fuel margins - the gap between what they pay for their fuel and the price they sell it at - are "still significantly above historic levels".

Martin, who has managed car dealership Bank Motors in the east end of Glasgow for nearly 40 years, said of the findings "It doesn't surprise me.

I think it's ridiculous.

"You're hearing the price of barrels [of oil] are coming down across the world and it doesn't affect our forecourt prices whatsoever."

Asked why he thought it was happening, he replied: "Greed, pretty much. The people who own the forecourts - your BPs and companies like that - are making more and more profit than you've ever heard of before.