Fuel costs: Walkden garage dropped prices to give back, boss says

Mr Mohammed said he hoped to maintain the low prices for at least two weeks

A garage has seen "constant queues" since its boss cut the price of fuel to "give back" to the community and help people struggling with living costs.

Hassan Mohammed said his customers had a "major surprise" when he updated his sign at Limes Service Station in Walkden, Salford, earlier.

The garage is selling petrol for 169.9p a litre and diesel for 185.9p.

Mr Mohammed said he had taken "a huge cut in margins", but hoped the cuts would ensure "the customer is happy".

Fuel prices have increased sharply because the price for crude oil, which is used to make petrol and diesel, has gone up.

In March, the government said it would cut fuel duty on petrol and diesel by 5p per litre for a year, but average prices have continued to rise.

The latest figures from the RAC show the average cost of fuel per litre in the UK is 190.65p for unleaded and 198.42p for diesel.

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Mr Mohammed said he had used a cut in margins and savings to drop prices, after customers "expected unleaded to creep up to £2 a litre".

He said he did it because of the "significant" rise in the cost of living and fuel and he wanted to thank the local community who had "supported us for seven years".

"We were just in a position to do something about it," he said.

"We have been trying to do it for the last four weeks; however, we couldn't make the figures work.

"We had to put some money back into it to try and achieve this price point [but] finally got to a point where we decided to bite the bullet and go ahead full steam."

Mr Mohammed said there had been "constant queues" since he cut prices

He said many of his customers had "expressed their gratitude and come and shaken my hand".

He said it had been "really satisfying to see it has made a difference on people", adding that his staff had been "grafting really hard" dealing with hundreds of customers and deserved a "shout out".

He added that as long as there were no "dramatic fluctuations" in supply costs, the price cuts would continue for at least two weeks.

Campaign group FairFuelUK has called for a reduction of at least 20p in fuel duty and has said other countries have cut costs more than the UK.

The government has ruled out specific measures to tackle fuel costs, but has put together a £37bn package to help families deal with the wider rises in the cost of living.

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