Allan takes up issue of island fuel hikes 20/9/11
MSP Alasdair Allan, has written to Scottish Fuels to ask them to explain apparent increases in the wholesale price of petrol and diesel in the Western Isles.
He has also asked them to respond to the criticism that they are doing this in anticipation of a 5p discount on fuel duty in island areas.
Alasdair Allan commented: “Yet again, people in the Western Isles have reason to be concerned about the increasing cost of petrol and diesel in recent days.
“With only one company shipping fuel into the islands I believe that company has to answer questions about these increases, and whether they are exploiting the fact that the UK Government are in the process of introducing a 5p discount on fuel duty for island areas.
“Filling stations in the islands have little choice about where they get their fuel from, which creates something close to a local monopoly. I would certainly be very concerned if a small and long overdue discount on fuel duty in the islands was to be taken advantage of by the islands’ one supplier of fuel in this way.
“I have today written to Scottish Fuels Ltd asking them to explain their policy on this issue and I have also written to the Office of Fair Trading to raise my concerns that earlier measures taken by them have failed to address this monopoly situation.
“We saw in the past Scottish Fuels drop their price dramatically in one day when they thought there was a risk of competition. Now, it could be argued, prices are rising when they see a prospect of a tax reduction.
“People in the islands are increasingly worried about the enormous gap that now exists between island fuel prices and those in the cities, and it would be very unfortunate if the very modest discount being introduced by the Government was effectively cancelled out by the actions of any fuel supplier.”