What with the HGV driver shortage and now a rise in global crude oil prices, motorists across Kent are once again paying record prices for fuel at the pumps.

The users of standard unleaded E10 petrol are sometimes being charged 147.9p a litre, while those with older vehicles who are forced to buy Premium E5 petrol because their car's engine is not compatible with the new green fuel, may be asked for up to another 10p a litre.

The result, according to research by 1st Call Windscreens, has taken the cost of filling the tank to the highest level since the start of the century.

Standard E10 petrol at Grove Green Tesco in Maidstone is currently 144.9p a litre. It's the same at Temple Farm petrol station in Strood.

However Asda at Gillingham Pier is charging "only" 138.7p.

Petrol is cheaper in the Ashford area, where most drivers are being asked to cough up 141.9p and at Sainsbury's at Bybrook it's on sale for 136.9p.

The cheapest petrol on the Isle of Sheppey is at Tesco in Sheerness, where it is 134.9p per litre.

Petrol in Canterbury currently varies between 138.7p and 141.9p

In the Dover area, prices are fairly consistent around the 142.9p mark.

Given how low fuel prices fell during the initial Covid lockdown (to below £1 a litre), it’s hard to believe that we’ve ended up here, with petrol prices rising to unprecedented levels.

A spokesman for 1st Call Windscreens said: "From the Iraq War, to the financial crisis, to the rise in crude oil prices at the start of last decade, we’ve seen petrol and diesel prices fluctuate greatly in recent times, but nothing like what we’re seeing today.

"Petrol prices during the lockdown were at their lowest since 2009, but since then, oil prices rose and panic buying ensued, meaning that they’ve now hit a record high.

"As it stands, prices still haven’t slowed and the problem now permeates the globe, with disruptions in supply chains now affecting the United States and mainland Europe.

"However, it is predicted that by next year, supply for oil will start outpacing demand once production starts to ramp up, so we should see prices fall again."

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