MOTORISTS in Swindon could soon be paying under £1 per litre for petrol, according to motoring group the RAC.

The plunging price of world oil combined with petrol firms passing on savings more quickly could see the cost of a litre of petrol dipping below £1, the group predicted, which would take prices to their lowest level since the end of May 2009.

It said that the price of Brent crude, now down below the 60-dollars-a-barrel mark for the first time since early July 2009, was predicted to keep on dropping.

The RAC added that it was hopeful that petrol would be sold nationally for under £1 a litre in the first few months of the new year.

RAC fuel spokesman, Simon Williams, said: "What's currently happening at the pumps with falling fuel prices is something many motorists will not remember seeing before.

"Talk of prices going up like a rocket and falling like a feather could not be further from the truth as retailers have been quick to pass on savings at the forecourt since we forecast on December 6 that prices were due to come down by 7p a litre for petrol and 6p for diesel."

The RAC's monitoring of fuel prices shows the average price of a litre of petrol is 116.9p - nearly 14p a litre cheaper than at the start of the year.

Diesel is nearly 16p cheaper - 122.33p a litre now compared to 138.24p in January. The average supermarket price of fuel is 114.26p a litre for petrol and 120.18p for diesel.

In Swindon, fuel comparison website petrolprices.com said the average cost per litre of unleaded was 116.6p, and 122.7p for diesel.

The cheapest unleaded petrol was listed at Asda stations in Thamesdown Drive and at the West Swindon Shopping Centre, costing 112.7p per litre, followed by Sainsbury's in Paddington Drive at 112.9p and Tesco in Ocotal Way at 113.9p.

For diesel, Asda was once again listed as the cheapest, at 118.7p per litre, followed by the Newport Street Service Station, in Old Town and Sainsbury's in Paddington Drive, both at 118.9p. 

Mr Williams added: "The cost of going to visit family and friends this Christmas will be the cheapest it's been for nearly five years, but the prospect of petrol going below £1 a litre in the new year is incredible, particularly when prices at the beginning of 2014 seemed to be heading ever upwards.

"Current forecasts are for average petrol prices to fall to below 110p a litre in the next fortnight and diesel to drop to under 116p.

"At these average prices across the country the cheapest retailers will almost certainly be selling petrol for around 105p a litre, or even lower."

What do you think? Are petrol companies now passing on the savings fairly, or is petrol still too expensive?

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