18 July 2025
As motorists gear up for the summer holiday season, petrol along major holiday routes started this week as low as 129.9p a litre (M90, jnc 1A) and as expensive as 170.9 (M74, jncs 4&6) and 168.9p (M6, btwn jncs 14-15).
For those drivers where an A-road route is an alternative to a motorway one, the fuel savings are substantial – providing they can put up with or time their trips to avoid bottlenecks like Stonehenge. There again, a hold-up on a motorway is also a possibility.
Motorway versus A-road:- West Country routes (London to Exeter): motorway average – petrol 155.2 p/ltr, diesel 163.1 p/ltr; A-road average – petrol 139.0 p/ltr, diesel 146.9 p/ltr.
- North-South routes: M1/M6 average – petrol 158.8 p/ltr, diesel 167.1 p/ltr; A1M/A1 average – petrol 145.8 p/ltr, diesel 154.6 p/ltr.
- Routes into Wales: M4 average – petrol 154.5 p/ltr, diesel 163.1 p/ltr; A55 average – petrol 142.2 p/ltr, diesel 149.8 p/ltr.
In the past month, average pump prices have risen from 132.1p a litre for petrol and 138.2p a litre for diesel (16 June) to 134.6 and 141.9p a litre respectively (14 July).
Match those against holiday route fuel prices on Monday and drivers face motorway averages of 155.7p a litre for petrol and 164.4p for diesel. On A-roads, petrol averages 140.1p a litre and diesel 147.6p a litre.
However, with so many motorway service areas charging close to or above 160p a litre for petrol, there is little to persuade many drivers that filling up along a motorway is only done in desperation.
Mobile services like the AA App...allow users to trace a route and locate the previously hidden cheaper fuel stations along it or just off the junctions.Yet, there are some oases of bargain-priced motorway fuel:
- Tiverton and Cullompton (jncs 27 and 28) on the M5
- Lancaster (btwn juncs 32-33) on the M6
- Oval (jnc 16) on the M1
- Magor (jnc 23a) and Cardiff West (jnc 33) on the M4
- Ferrymuir (jnc 1a) on the M90
“Even with the extra costs of providing a 24-hour service, free parking and facilities and staffing, charging 20p to 30p a litre above the UK average pump price or £10 to £15 a tank more to fill up on a motorway is frankly outrageous. No wonder holiday drivers baulk at buying fuel at a service area,” says Edmund King, the AA’s president.
“However, while there is a danger that pricing at so many motorway service areas tars them all with the same brush, pump price transparency courtesy of the CMA voluntary scheme is revealing the better if not bargain-priced fuel stations along popular holiday routes. Mobile services like the AA App, now no longer hindered by the search restrictions of old, allow users to trace a route and locate the previously hidden cheaper fuel stations along it or just off the junctions.
“Savings on A-road holiday routes stand out in particular. However, there is the likelihood of slower traffic at peak times and many cheaper fuel stations will not operate late at night. It’s a gamble but it may well pay off if a vacation trip cannot be done in one hop.”