MORE motorists cut back on driving in the first half of the year as record fuel prices squeezed household incomes and triggered a 5% drop in petrol sales.
The slide in volumes between January and June, equal to 517.2m litres, deprived the Treasury of £985m in fuel duty, the AA motoring organisation said.
The decline sped up throughout the period, with sales dropping 6.6% in the second quarter, compared with a 3.9% fall in the previous three months, as the price of petrol hit a peak of 137.43p a litre and diesel touched 143.04p.
Edmund King, president of the AA, said many car owners could not afford record forecourt prices and were “losing mobility as a consequence”.
He said: “There is no downplaying the impact of record fuel prices on family and other people’s lives.”
The cost of petrol surged in the first half of the year as volatility in north Africa and the Middle East threatened oil supplies and forced up prices.
Motorists paid on average 133.13p per litre of petrol between January and June this year, compared with 116.68p the previous year and 109p in 2008, the AA said.
