UK fuel prices today
Three grades are sold at UK forecourts, and the gap between them is wider than most drivers expect. These are today's national figures, taken from every forecourt reporting to the government's Fuel Finder scheme.
Diesel is currently 24.0p a litre dearer than E10 petrol (about £13.20 on a 55-litre tank). Super unleaded carries a 20.0p premium over standard petrol — worth checking against your handbook before paying it.
Which grade does your car take?
| Grade | Code | Suits | Typical price |
|---|---|---|---|
| E10 petrol | E10 | Over 95% of petrol cars on UK roads | £1.70 |
| Diesel | B7 | Every modern diesel car and van | £1.94 |
| E5 super unleaded | E5 | Cars not approved for E10, and high-compression engines | £1.90 |
Prices are the median across reporting forecourts — the figure a typical driver actually meets, rather than a mean pulled upward by a handful of remote and motorway sites.
Where the price at the pump goes
Roughly half of what you pay is tax. Fuel duty has been frozen at 52.95p a litre since March 2022, and VAT at 20% is charged on top of the duty as well as the fuel — so a rising pump price raises the VAT take too. The rest covers the wholesale product, delivery and the retailer's margin.
That structure explains why prices differ so little between neighbouring countries but so much between neighbouring forecourts: duty and VAT are fixed nationally, so almost the entire difference you can act on is retailer margin — which is exactly what comparing sites reveals.
Common questions
What is the difference between E10 and E5?
Both are unleaded petrol. E10 contains up to 10% bioethanol and is rated 95 RON; E5 contains no more than 5% and is rated 97 to 99 RON. E10 is the standard grade and the cheaper of the two. E5 exists for vehicles not approved for E10 and for engines that can use the higher octane.
Why is diesel more expensive than petrol?
Fuel duty is identical on both in the UK, so the difference comes from wholesale cost. Diesel competes with global demand from freight, agriculture, shipping and heating, and European supply has been tight, which moves it independently of petrol.
Which grade does my car take?
The filler cap or the handbook will say. Petrol cars take E10 unless the manufacturer says otherwise, which mainly affects vehicles registered before 2002 and some classics. Diesel cars take B7. Putting petrol in a diesel car, or the reverse, is a serious and expensive mistake — do not start the engine if it happens.