Fuel prices spark demo calls

CALLS were made this week for a boycott of a Moffat filling station as fuel prices there reached a peak of £1.749 per litre.

The hike in price at Benmar Services was met with fury from several residents, who accused the garage of ‘money grabbing’.

There were talks of organising a protest, whilst others planned to boycott the service station and fill up elsewhere.

Benmar was recently sold to Grove Retail Limited, along with three sister sites in Dumfries, Newton Stewart, and St Johns Town of Dalry.

The new owners were contacted for comment.

Meanwhile, heating oil has also seen rapid price hikes, as households are not protected by the energy price cap and often have limited ability to compare prices between suppliers.

Both situations are being blamed on the ongoing conflict in Iran as oil supply lines have been compromised.

Dumfriesshire MP David Mundell is now calling on the UK Government to respond to what he has described as ‘blatant profiteering’ by some companies.

Speaking after a session in Parliament, Mr Mundell said: “With so many properties across rural Dumfriesshire not connected to the mains gas grid, there is a heavy reliance locally on domestic heating oil.

“Some of the price increases that are being reported are little short of blatant profiteering, with one local resident highlighting to me a 200 per cent increase in just over a week.

“I am set to attend a meeting with the Financial Secretary to the Treasury where the cost of fuel is rightly on the agenda but, given the importance of domestic heating oil to areas like Dumfriesshire, I want to see that added to the agenda for the meeting too.

“People who rely on domestic heating oil must not be left exposed to such dramatic and unjustifiable spikes in cost, especially when other heating sources are rightly subject to regulation, and I will be pushing Ministers to try and ensure this is the case.”