BICESTER motorists are paying up to 2p a litre more for their fuel than drivers in nearby towns.

All five major filling stations in Bicester charge the same, but in Kidlington and Banbury a tank of fuel costs less.

We found petrol stations in Bicester, including BP, Esso, Tesco and Shell, were all charging 90.9 for unleaded fuel yesterday.

But in Banbury the same garages were 2p a litre less at 88.9, including filling stations at Tesco, Lockheed Close, BP, Cherwell Street, Sainsburys and Esso, both Oxford Road.

And in Kidlington, Sainsburys and Esso, both in Oxford Road, were selling unleaded fuel at 88.9.

Bicester Chamber of Commerce president Ben Jackson said: “It’s difficult to understand a pricing policy that leaves the residents and business of Bicester at a disadvantage to other local urban centres.What are the additional delivery and distribution costs attached to Bicester that do not apply to Banbury and Oxford?”

He said transport costs could hardly be a factor, since Bicester’s major road links were as good as Oxford’s or Banbury’s.

He added: “This can’t be a tax issue either.

“It must be a policy decision by the petrol companies that appears to penalise this town, while subsidising others.

“Anything like this that places Bicester at a commercial disadvantage is not good for our members and needs to be challenged.”

A spokesman for Esso, which owns the Bicester and Banbury filling stations, said: “There are many factors which determine Esso pump prices.

“Pump prices are affected by changes in taxes and duties, international product prices and the exchange rate.

“We monitor the prices offered by our competitors and set the pump prices at our company owned sites on a site by site basis.

“Retailing of motor fuels is a highly competitive business and we aim to be competitive.

“At the end of the day motorists are mobile and they will decide where they are going to fill up.”

A Tesco spokesman said: “As with all national petrol retailers, Tesco does not operate with a national pricing policy.

“Our goal is to be competitive on the price of petrol and diesel in the locality of each and every store where we sell fuel.”

A spokesman for the AA said it was aware of price differences in small market towns especially those with just one supermarket.

He said: “It’s really down to the competitive beast.

“If there is just Tesco, there is less pressure on Tesco to follow pricing trends elsewhere.”

  • Do you know of any other fuel pricing inconsistencies? Call Tom Shepherd on 01865 425411.