Petrol and diesel prices have hit another record high today as fuel costs continue to soar.
According to the latest weekly figures from the government, the average price of petrol is now 144.9p per litre, while the cost of diesel is now 148.84p per litre.
The previous record for the price of petrol was 143.7p, which was set last week, the Mirror reports.
The previous record for diesel was 148.04p, which was set back in April 2012, according to figures from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.
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Figures show that both prices of both diesel and petrol have now been on the rise for eight continuous weeks.
In January, petrol cost just 115.3p a litre on average, and diesel 119.9p.
An average 55-litre family car would now cost £79.69 to fill up - up by 34p since last week - while a tank of diesel would cost 73p more at a total of £81.84.
The dramatic hike has been driven primarily by the oil price doubling from around $40 (£29.42) a barrel a year ago to $85 now.
Some analysts predict the price of oil could hit $90 by the end of the year.
Last week, government figures revealed that petrol prices have soared by more than 30p per litre in the past 12 months - making it around £17 more expensive to fill up.
Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, said: “The surging cost of oil is certainly contributing to the misery drivers face at the pumps, but the price of a barrel is still only around two thirds of what it was when forecourt prices were last at these levels.
“Another factor is the relatively high, and rising, cost of biofuels, which on a pence per litre basis are more expensive than fossil fuels and this at a time when the bio element of petrol is increasing as we work towards meeting our decarbonisation goals.”
The RAC has also published similar figures on the rising cost of fuel in recent weeks.
The motoring organisation suggested that the big four supermarkets were also to blame for the rises late last month.
Collectively, they upped the price of unleaded by more than 9p a litre and diesel by more than 10p by October 25.
Asda had the cheapest petrol at 140.98p, only slightly lower than Sainsbury’s at 141.68p.
Sainsbury’s, however, offered the lowest price diesel at 144.37p, just slightly less than Asda which charged 144.57p at the end of October.
