Fuel prices to be advertised on signs along the motorway to help drivers avoid being ripped off
- Justice Secretary Chris Grayling unveils package of measures
- He will also freeze MOT test fees and review the cost of a driving test
- Petrol at motorway service stations costs 7.5p more per litre and diesel 8.3p more
By James Slack
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Electronic signs are to be put up on motorways to expose service stations trying to rip off motorists with inflated charges.
They are part of a package of measures unveiled by Justice Secretary Chris Grayling today to reduce the cost of motoring.
They include freezing the MoT test fee for a car at £54.85 until 2015, and a review of the cost of taking a driving test and applying for a provisional licence.
Eye-catching: Signs will be installed on motorways detailing the exact cost of petrol and diesel at different service stations on the route
In the most eye-catching move, high-tech signs will be installed on motorways detailing the exact cost of petrol and diesel at different service stations on the route.
Ministers hope it will highlight the sums being charged by some garages that believe they have a ‘captive market’, and encourage them to compete for custom.
A recent investigation by the Office of Fair Trading found that petrol at motorway service stations costs an average of 7.5p more per litre and diesel 8.3p more than at other garages.
AA president Edmund King welcomed the new motorway signs, which will be trialled from next year, using wi-fi technology to update the cost of petrol on the route.
Mr King said: ‘Motorists in the UK often think they are treated as a cash cow and these proposals go some way to help keep down the costs.’
There will also be an attempt to end fraudulent whiplash claims by forcing motorists to have their injury confirmed by a panel of independent medical experts.
MPs have blamed the compensation culture driven by supposed whiplash injuries for driving up the cost of motor insurance premiums.
Mr Grayling’s department, the Ministry of Justice, has introduced a string of measures to try to crack down on the number of claims.
New signs: Drivers will be alerted to prices by high-tech signs along their route
Lawyers can no longer double their fees if they win, at the expense of defendants and their insurers.
Ministers have banned ‘referral fees’ among lawyers, insurers, claims firms and garages for profitable cases.
They have also reduced the fees lawyers can charge insurers for processing basic claims for compensation for minor injuries suffered in road accidents from £1,200 to £500.
The AA says motor insurance premiums are falling at the fastest rate since 1994, dropping by 12.3 per cent in the year to October for an average comprehensive policy, from £648 to £568.
The Ministry of Justice says the number of claims firms in the market has also fallen since the law changes, from a peak of 2,553 in December 2011 to 1,485 last month.
The ministry said that despite these successes, whiplash claims remained an issue that the Government would continue to fight.
Mary Creagh, the shadow transport secretary, said today’s announcements ‘will be cold comfort for motorists being squeezed on the road and at home’.
She added: ‘Prices have gone up faster than wages in 39 of the 40 months [David Cameron] has been Prime Minister and working people are almost £1,500 a year worse off.’
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Comments (139)
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Cut out the acres (and acres) of waffle and twaddle .... the ONLY thing that's killing us is - 80% TAX - on petrol.
No-one worrying about the cost of things uses motorway services at all. no-one - so I'm unsure how that will help. The one off cost of the test is irrelevant to nearly all drivers. If anything we want to discourage more drivers coming onto our roads, unless they have a pressing need to travel by car. MOT fees too, are dwarfed by the other costs of driving, so I can't see this having too much effect.
Perhaps the new and expensive digital traffic signs which have recently proliferated in Hertfordshire could be put to good use to advertise fuel prices in the area. They appear to be b-all use otherwise.
Some years ago people were encouraged to change to diesel and the price was much cheaper than petrol. After a while (presumably when the G'ent) realised how many had done so) Diesel became more expensive than petrol and still is! Yet in most other European countries it is a lot cheaper than here.
Petrol and diesel, more expensive on the motorway? Wow, who'd have thought. Instead of telling us what we already know, slash fuel duty, remove the VAT, put money back in people's pockets to spend as they wish and reboot the economy for all, not just the 1%.
The difference is more like 10p. However, if drivers filled up where it's at 'normal' prices, as I do, the motorway services would soon reduce theirs or close.
Unfortunately most continental countries are so superior to the UK. Better everything (except the loos in Belgium) and a much wider range of food.
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Spencer, Surrey, 5 days ago
As always with the cost of fuel prices for drivers, there is a tiny little article published and pushed to the bottom of the main page, and then is removed from the main page within a day. Why is that DM, why are these fuel stories never a main headline, you cant keep trying to hide it away, its a huge problem and here to stay, we dont care about a christening, we care about trying to live and survive in Britain, these stories are important to us and should be headline stories.