. . . as Britons are facing £1 a litre
By Ben Hoyle and Rosemary Bennett

There’s no end in sight to rising prices

AVERAGE petrol prices are expected to pass £1 a litre for the first time as the oil price surge shows no sign of ending.

Gordon Brown led a chorus of concerned voices over the weekend about the economic effects of spiralling oil costs.

Prices at British petrol stations have been climbing steadily at a rate of about a penny a litre every week since the beginning of this month.

Crude oil reached $75 a barrel in trading on Wall Street last Friday. The most recent figures available, from Thursday last week, showed that forecourt prices were only fractionally below the British record highs set on September 14 last year when about 3,000 service stations ran dry.