LOCAL drivers are set to benefit from falling fuel prices in the coming weeks as fears of a recession in the US have hit oil prices.
 
Prices at the pumps have seen a dramatic decrease in recent days after prices hit historic highs with petrol priced as low as 169.9p per litre in one West Belfast filling station.
 
Wholesale prices for oil have dropped due to decreasing demand spearheaded by fears of a recession in the United State. The price of Brent Crude, which is used as a benchmark when measuring oil prices, last week fell below $95 for the first time since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine.
 
The AA have said that falling wholesale costs could lead to savings of £10 off a tank within a fortnight. This comes just weeks after the Competition and Markets Authority launched an investigation into fuel prices after it found “cause for concern” within some parts of the industry.

Paul Doherty from Foodstock welcomed the fall in prices but said that we are not at a level yet where families will see the extra money in their wallets.
 
“I have been speaking to staff in fuel stations across West Belfast and they have said for many years they have had a telephone that has never rang, now every day the phones are off the hook with people asking the price of petrol and diesel.
 
“They are also seeing many people turn up and put two or three pound of petrol into their car because that is all they can afford.
 
“People who are coming to us in Foodstock are telling us that they are walking to work and leaving the car at home because they cannot afford fuel. While prices are falling, it hasn’t come down enough to allow people to keep using their cars and free up funds.
 
“The rising costs have impacted whole families in terms of what they do in their day to day and we aren’t yet at the point where they are seeing the extra money in their pockets.”