The collapse in the pound brought on by Britain’s vote to leave the EU has added £142 a year to the average family’s petrol bill, according to the AA.
The cost of filling a typical 55-litre tank has averaged £3 more since last June because sterling has lost 14.6 per cent of its value since the referendum.
A family with two petrol cars can expect to pay £142.56 a year extra for fuel. Tradesmen have also suffered, with the cost of filling an 80-litre van tank £4.25 higher than it would have been without Brexit. The slump in sterling’s value has hit consumers particularly hard because petrol and diesel are traded in dollars.
Things could have been worse for motorists, however. The unexpected fall in inflation to 2.6 per cent last month was driven largely by a slump in consumer fuel costs thanks to falling oil prices, which the AA said had spared consumers from a greater Brexit penalty.
And there are silver linings for the Treasury. Although the fall in prices has depressed VAT receipts, the Treasury has received a penny per litre more than it would have done had the pound maintained its pre-referendum performance.