A Tesco petrol station has accidentally become the nation's cheapest after a rat chewed through the cable used to update pricing.
The forecourt, in Sheerness, Kent , cannot update its electronic price display after the meddlesome rodent struck.
This currently advertises petrol at 134.9p a litre and diesel at 136.9p - much cheaper than the national average.
Petrol and diesel prices both hit record highs yesterday , with the average price of a litre of petrol now 144.9p and diesel 148.84p.
Forecourt staff decided the right thing to do was honour the advertised prices, according to the Kent Messenger .
Savvy local drivers have been spotted filling up on the cheap fuel in droves before the issue is sorted out.
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The incident also means the petrol station cannot accept contactless card payments, though customers can still use PIN numbers or cash.
A source close to Tesco said: "We are closing our Sheerness Extra petrol garage for a short time while we fix a technical issue. This is not impacting any other Tesco petrol garages."
This is not the first time the local rat population has plagued Tesco, as the critters have allegedly gnawed through concrete to get to its food stores in the past.
However, drivers in the rest of the country are not as lucky - and are dealing with serious price increases.
The rising cost of fuel means drivers now pay 34p more to fill up an average 55-litre family car than they did last week - from £79.03 to £79.69.
For diesel car owners, the figure is an extra 73p - with prices going up from £81.11 to £81.84.
Drivers may even pay more than this for fuel, depending on where they are filling up.
In January petrol cost just 115.3p a litre on average, and diesel 119.9p.
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 – but some analysts predict it could hit $90 by the end of the year.
The price hike shown in government figures echoes one from the RAC motoring organisation, which also says fuel costs are rising.
The RAC also said 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 to averages of 142.18p and 145.28p respectively 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.
The average price of motorway petrol was 158.43p on 31 October, with a record price set the day before at 158.56p. Diesel closed October at a new all-time high of 163.08p.
Around one-third of the cost of a litre of fuel is tax.
Petrol and diesel are both taxed at 57.95p per litre.
