MOTORISTS are facing ‘shock and awe’ at filling stations in York after the price of petrol soared to a new record high.

Drivers are now having to pay just over £1.70 a litre at one of the city’s cheapest filling stations at Morrisons in Foss Islands Road, eight pence more than just a fortnight ago and 21 pence more than in March.

The AA says ‘shock and awe’ is the only way to describe price rises over the half term holidays, while the RAC says even more price rises are on the way and more Government help is needed to tackle the ‘frightening’ situation.

A litre of petrol at Morrison's costs £1.70.7 today, compared with £1.64.7 on May 27, £1.62.7 on May 20, £1.49.7 on March 9 and just over £1 in April 2020, as demand slumped at the start of the first lockdown of the pandemic.

A litre of diesel is now costing £1.80.7.

According to www.gocompare.com, the cheapest petrol in York is now £1.68.7 per litre at Asda's filling station at Monks Cross, followed by £1.68.9 at the Jet garage in Haxby.

The RAC says that nationwide, the price of petrol surged by nearly 5p a litre in the week around the Jubilee bank holiday break and could soon hit 180p a litre, and average diesel prices also rose from 182.58p a litre to 185.01p.

The motoring body said the average cost of a litre had hit a "frightening" 177.88p by Sunday, as oil prices remained high because of the war in Ukraine and sanctions on Russia.

Fuel duties were cut by 5 pence a litres in the spring but the RAC called for more radical government intervention, in the form of either a further reduction in fuel duty or a VAT cut.

"Sadly, we expect to see the average price of petrol break through the 180p mark this week with diesel moving further towards 190p," said a spokesman.

“Since Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February the price petrol has gone up 24p a litre, For diesel the figure is 30p. This means the cost of filling a 55-litre petrol car has gone up by £13, and a diesel one by £16.50. Both of these figures would have been even higher had the Government not cut fuel duty."

An AA spokesman said 'shock and awe' was the only way to describe what had been happening at the pump during the half-term break.

He added: "The forces behind the surge have been oil jumping back above $120 a barrel for the first time since late March, combined with petrol commodity prices being boosted by summer motoring demand."