The Forum of Private Business has described the OFT’s decision not to launch a full investigation into the state of fuel pricing as a ‘missed opportunity’.
The Forum - a small business support group - said it would be cold comfort for many firms reliant on fuel to do business that the OFT review, which was announced in September, would go no further having found UK pre-tax fuel prices amongst the lowest in Europe.
It also found supermarkets had caused a huge number of independent suppliers to go out of business, but in turn their increased buying power had helped drive down forecourt costs. Not surprisingly the study also found rural fuel prices were more expensive, and also raised questions about the way motorway service stations don’t advertise what is often much more expensive fuel to drivers until they have entered the site.
But the main thrust of the investigation looking at anti-competitive behaviour in the fuel market, drew a blank. The watchdog even described competition in the market at a national level as ‘strong’, but admitted there ‘may be’ some ‘issues’ at a local level.
The Forum’s Head of Policy, Alex Jackman, said, “That we have some of the lowest pre-tax prices for petrol in Europe will come as little comfort to businesses who are paying a premium at the pumps. Whilst we praised the government for not implementing recent proposed increases, to go from the 7th lowest pre-tax price to the 6th highest post-tax price suggests there’s something amiss in the UK.”
“The problem of the overall price of petrol would seem to lie squarely in the tax take, and this government, along with previous ones, continues to ignore this most pressing of issues for business. Our own research has previously shown this to be one of the biggest costs for our members.”