Sales of petrol drops by a fifth in last five years

Sales of petrol drops by a fifth in last five years

In new research by the AA, we see that the petrol pumps have been giving out 20% less fuel than they were five years ago.

Using figures released by the Department of Energy and Climate Change, it looks that we are buying up to 3.5 billion litres of petrol less than we were half a decade ago. In 2007, UK motorists bought 22.9 billion litres of petrol for their vehicles, whilst last year, that figure dropped to 17.4 billion litres - a fall of a fifth.

In the same timeframe, the sales of diesel shot up from 14.8 billion litres of fuel to 16.7 billion litres. Whereas the number of diesel cars in the UK is increasing, and the number of petrol cars decreasing, the total sales of fuel is still on the decline, with 2012 sales figures being 34.2 billion litres, down 9.3 percent from 2007, where sales were 37.7 billion litres.

Although possible reasons for a drop in fuel sales could be the prevalence of more fuel efficient vehicles, improvements to roads and motorways, it is a sad fact that the credit crunch of the last 5 years also plays a big part. This, coupled with the escalating prices at the pumps, has certainly taken it's toll on the sales volumes of fuel in the UK.

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