Alliance Party representatives, Castlereagh Councillor Michael Long and Strangford Alliance Chair Kellie Armstrong have held with the Consumer Council to raise their concerns about the use of local pricing policies by petrol retailers which has the effect of pushing up petrol prices in some areas.

They want an end to the use of different prices for petrol and diesel by the same retailers and instead see the introduction of regional or national pricing.

Cllr. Long said: "There is a wide variation in petrol prices across Greater Belfast and only yesterday prices ranged from 139.7 pence per litre to 145.9 pence. Clearly it is important that consumers shop around for the best price but we are particularly concerned by the fact that in many cases the same retailer is charging substantially different rates at stations only a few miles apart as part of their local pricing policies. Today we are raising the matter with the Consumer Council and asking that they work with us to campaign for national pricing policies so that retailers are not raising prices in areas where there is less competition.

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"Given that recent surveys have shown that Northern Ireland has the highest diesel prices in Europe and petrol prices in these islands, we feel that it is important that we highlight these price disparities. We hope that today's meeting will be another step in the right direction to ending the practice where some retailers charges significantly different rates in locations which are only a few miles apart where there are clearly no differences in the cost of providing the fuel. We feel that all retailers should adopt national pricing policies rather than local ones so that people across the country are all getting the best deal for their fuel."

(CD/GK)