Despite lower prices at the pumps, drivers bought less fuel between April and June this year than at the same time last year. A staggering half a billion litres less of both petrol and diesel were sold at this time in 2012, following a rise in sales at the beginning of the year due to the threat of a tanker drivers’ strike leading to panic buying.

According to the AA, the price rises in fuel since 2008 have, in part, led to a slow and steady decline in sales. While the first 6 months of 2008 saw the sale of almost 19 billion litres, only 16.7 billion litres were sold during the first half of 2012. The AA feel that the slump is due to the fuel industry trying to get more and more money out of ever decreasing customer demand.

While fuel efficient cars and car tyres will have made a small contribution to the fall in sales, this is not sufficient to explain the sudden drop in the second quarter, or the slow decline over the last 4 years. This fall is likely to be worrying the government who gain a large amount of revenue from the sale of petrol and diesel, which unfortunately is likely to lead to them looking elsewhere for a way to make up the shortfall.