Your next tank of fuel could be the most expensive ever as prices push towards record highs.

Motorists across Oxfordshire flocked to forecourts over the weekend keen to beat predicted price hikes this week.

Diesel had already hit the £1 a litre mark at some garages across the county and the price of unleaded was not far behind.

The current rise has been blamed on instability in the Middle East surrounding Iran, one of the world's largest oil producers, and the lingering effects of Hurricane Katrina, which hit nine US oil refineries in the Gulf of Mexico.

At the BP garage on the A34 at Weston-on-the-Green, diesel was 100.9p per litre yesterday and unleaded was 96.9p.

Prices at Tesco's filling station in Bicester reached 99.9p per litre for diesel, with unleaded at 95.9p.

Tesco staff member Joan Mansell said the forecourt had been extremely busy all weekend.

She added: "People are thinking about the price and customers are saying it could go over £1 soon."

It was a similar story at garages across the area.

At the Esso Station in Oxpens, motorists were taking advantage of diesel at 98.9p and unleaded at 94.9p.

Assistant manager Dagna Michalowska said: "It was not a typical Saturday, it was more busy than usual and prices may have influenced that."

Spokesman for The AA Motoring Trust Andrew Howard said price rises were due to uncertainty in the world oil market.

He said average fuel prices last week were close to the record high recorded on September 14, 2005, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and looked set to rise further.

Mr Howard said: "The new instability is Iran, so up goes the petrol price because supplies become uncertain."

The spiralling pump prices mean more misery for Oxford's taxi drivers and hauliers who have already had to weather high prices over the past year.

Roy Herring, who owns Bicester Crane and Plant Haulage Ltd, said the outlook was bleak.

He added: "Thirty per cent of our cost is fuel, so any rise has a huge impact. An extra penny a litre really matters if you're putting in 400 litres at a time."

Alan Woodward, secretary of the City of Oxford Licensed Taxi Association, said hackney carriage fares were set by Oxford City Council and were only reviewed once a year.

He added: "The February 2006 rises took into account prices up until September 2005, so we are already behind. We are dipping into our pockets until the next rise."

Saj Rana owns 24 Seven taxis, based in Cricket Road.

He said: "A lot of us use diesel and that's reaching a pound a litre."

"If fares matched petrol prices people would be paying an extra 50p or 60p a mile. We have to cap prices or people will stop taking taxis."