The average cost to fill up a typical family car with petrol has officially hit more than £100 for the first time ever.
As the rising cost of living crisis continues to make its impact felt across the country, and with inflation having now risen to the 40-year UK high of 9%, the RAC has today confirmed that the average cost of filling a 55-litre car tank with petrol will set the typical family in England back over £100, which is the first time in history.
It comes after data firm Experian Catalist confirmed earlier this month that the average price of a litre of petrol at UK forecourts had now risen to 170.4p – also for the first time ever.
“It’s a truly dark day today for drivers, with petrol now crossing the thoroughly depressing threshold of £100 a tank (£100.27p) and a complete diesel fill-up now costs £103.43,” explained RAC fuel spokesperson Simon Williams.
“With average prices so high – 182.31p for a litre of unleaded and 188.05p for diesel – there’s almost certainly going to be upward inflationary pressure, which is bad news for everybody.
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“While fuel prices have been setting new records on a daily basis, households up and down the country may never have expected to see the cost of filling an average-sized family car reach three figures.”
The average cost to fill up a family car with petrol has officially hit more than £100 for the first time ever / Credit: Pixabay
The record-high average price to fill a 55-litre tank comes after Chancellor Rishi Sunak cut fuel duty by 5p back in March in an effort to protect motorists from the increasing costs going forward.
But now, the RAC has said this measure looks “paltry”, adding that wholesale petrol costs have increased by five times that amount since then.
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Mr Williams has urged the government to provide more help for motorists.
He continued in his statement: “March’s 5p fuel duty cut now looks paltry as wholesale petrol costs have already increased by five times that amount since the Spring Statement (25p) [so] a further duty cut or a temporary reduction in VAT would go a long way towards helping drivers, especially those on lower incomes who have no choice other than to drive.”
Prices at the pumps are again reaching new highs, and we are fast approaching a litre of fuel hitting £2 ⛽️
Earlier this week, the RAC had already urged the government to make a “radical intervention” to stop the cost of fuel rising it pumps across the UK – however, the AA hit out at the RAC over the comments, and blamed its “reckless speculation” for rising fuel prices.
The AA’s Luke Bosdet said in a statement this week: “Reckless speculation is leading to rip-off prices at the pump.
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“Yesterday’s more than 2p-a-litre leap in average UK petrol prices is a huge shock and fuels concern that speculation of a £2 litre just gives the fuel trade licence to pile on extra cost and the misery.”
A spokesperson for the RAC rebutted the accusation.
Featured Image – The AA
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Plans unveiled to deliver 50,000 council and ‘genuinely affordable’ homes in Greater Manchester
Emily Sergeant
Plans to deliver 50,000 council and ‘genuinely affordable’ homes in Greater Manchester have been unveiled.
By removing ‘blockers’ to development and transforming disused public land into new housing schemes, Greater Manchester Mayor Bev Craig has set out her plan to tackle the housing crisis and deliver ‘a new generation’ of homes – with 50,000 new ‘genuinely affordable’ homes to be available across the city region by 2039.
It’s expected that 10,000 of these homes will either be built, on site, or in the pipeline with planning permission ready to go by May 2028.
To meet the scale of this ambition and deliver the homes the region needs, Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) says it will need to ‘pull every lever at [its] disposal’, from remediating brownfield land, to bringing forward dormant sites in public ownership.
That’s why the Mayor will be asking Greater Manchester‘s public bodies to carry out a public land review and identify sites that could be brought forward to deliver homes.
GMCA has already used its Brownfield Housing Fund to support several schemes that are delivering thousands of affordable homes – including social rent homes – as part of the £2 billion Good Growth Fund.
If you’re unfamiliar, the Good Growth Fund is investing in a pipeline of projects to deliver new homes, regenerate town centres, create jobs, and build infrastructure to connect people and places.
“When I was Manchester City Council Leader, I built more council and social homes than Manchester had built in 25 years,” Bev Craig declared. “But we need to go further and faster in every bit of Greater Manchester.
“We will be leading by example when it comes to freeing up disused and dormant public land for development and I’m calling on other Government bodies to join us.
“I know first-hand the security that a Council house brings, and that’s why I am absolutely committed to delivering the Council and social homes that people here in Greater Manchester need, so everyone can have the foundation of a good life in our city region.”
Currently, land supply for 78,585 new homes of all tenures up to 2030 has been identified.
Greater Manchester is in line to receive an initial £1.8 billion from the Government’s Social and Affordable Homes Programme, and the Mayor will meet with Government in the coming weeks to set out joint plans to achieve these ambitions.
Featured Image – Benjamin Elliott (via Unsplash)
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Government sets out multi-million-pound plan to move UK away from animal testing in science
Emily Sergeant
A £22m push to ramp up the UK’s move away from animal testing in science is set to bring together cutting-edge tech and research.
The latest figures show there were 2.54 million animal testing procedures in Great Britain in 2025, which is down 3.8% on 2024, but with a further update due to be released later this year, the Government is now moving to ‘capitalise’ on that momentum with funding to shift the nation onto alternative testing options.
A dedicated national research hub and nine new high-tech projects are planned to develop ‘better ways’ to test medicines on human biology rather than animals.
According to the Government, this means treatments for conditions like cancer and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) could be developed ‘faster’ and ‘more precisely’ to not only help patients but crucially also move science away from traditional animal testing.
At the heart of the plans is a new Pre-clinical Translational Models Hub – based in Cambridge and backed by £20 million in Government funding, which will work to build and share models of human tissue, grown from NHS patients, to test new treatments.
The new hub will accelerate the development of testing on ‘organoids’ – tiny, simplified versions of a human gut, tumour or brain, using cells donated by patients.
From beating heart cells in a dish to AI that can predict how drugs move through the body, exciting alternatives to animal testing are transforming medical research.
We're investing £22m to help scientists develop the next generation of life-saving treatments. pic.twitter.com/1EWRQvwySa
— Dept. for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade (@biztradegovuk) August 12, 2026
Because these ‘organoids’ retain crucial features of a patient’s own biology, they will help researchers learn how a real person may respond to a drug and provide additional insights that can complement information that is currently obtained from animals.
Scientists will then be able to use these cutting-edge techniques in their own labs to work out which medicines are worth pursuing.
Overall, it’s hoped that the move will slash the time it takes to get ‘potentially life-changing’ treatments to market.
Alongside the funding for the new Hub, nine cutting-edge projects aimed at identifying new methods of animal-free scientific testing – from beating heart cells in a dish, to lab-grown human ear models, and AI that predicts how medicines move through the body – are being funded.
Sadly, many of these still rely on testing on dogs and monkeys, as it stands.
“This marks another significant step forward in the UK’s move away from animal testing in science and research,” commented Science Minister Chris McDonald.
“This is all about backing our world-leading researchers and innovators to improve lives, giving them the tools they need to deliver more effective treatments for horrendous diseases like cancer, while also preventing the need for animal testing wherever possible.
“It’s also a boost for our life sciences sector, fuelling opportunities for new investment and new jobs, and ensuring Britain is better off.”
Emily Sergeant -
9th June 2022 
