Drivers were hit with a 10p per litre (ppl) hike in diesel during October.

This is the third biggest monthly increase on record. It adds more than £5 to a tank, according to newly published figures from RAC Fuel Watch.

Fill her up

The average price of a litre of diesel went from 180.37p to 190.51p in October. It is second only to the record set earlier this year in March (22p – 155.23p to 177.29p) and June (16p – 183.43p to 199.05p) which gave rise to the new all-time high of 199.09p (25 June).

On average it now costs £105 (£104.78) to fill up a 55-litre diesel car.

The price of petrol also increased, but only by 4p (3.71p) a litre from 162.67p to 166.38p. This means a full tank costs £2 more at £91.51.

October also saw the gap between the forecourt prices of diesel and unleaded reach an all-time high of 24p a litre.

Oh dear, Opec

“After three months of falling pump prices October was a severe shock to the system, ” says  RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams.

The price hikes began at the start of the month when oil producer group OPEC+ agreed to cut production by two million barrels a day.

This in turn led to the barrel price going up 7% from $88.86 to $94.83, and hitting a high of $97 on 27 October. Combined with a severely weaker due to both international and government actions, it made wholesale petrol and diesel – traded in dollars – more expensive. The value of the pound has since improved, but its effects on forecourt prices are always slower to reflect these changes.

Across the board increases

The average price of unleaded at one of the big four supermarkets went up 4p from 161.31p to 165.36p; diesel jumped 9p from 178.51p to 187.54p.

Motorway petrol increased nearly 8p from 182.83p to 190.48p while diesel rocketed by 12p from 192.74p to 204.24p.

Williams fundamentally blames the OPEC+ decision to cut supply.

“Oil came perilously close to the $100 mark – something we haven’t seen since late August. Prior to that the barrel price was well above $100 from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine at the end of February until mid-July, reaching a high of $138 in early March, which caused pump prices of both petrol and diesel to reach new peaks in late June and early July.

“The fear now, particularly for diesel drivers, is whether the average price of a litre is heading back to that record of 199.09p which made a full tank cost more than £109.

“Looking at the wholesale market we strongly hope the price should stabilise. And those with petrol cars should actually see forecourt prices start to go slightly the other way as the wholesale cost of unleaded appears to have peaked – at least for the time being – in mid-October.”