FUEL prices in Birmingham are set to smash through the dreaded £4 a gallon barrier. And they could rise further as the international price of oil yesterday reached a record 59 dollars a barrel and may filter through to the petrol pump. A straw poll of service stations has found two charging 87.9 pence per litre for unleaded - a BP in Gravelly Hill, Erdington and a Texaco in Kingstanding Road, Kingstanding. This works out at £3.99 and a half pence a gallon. The Kingstanding garage is also charging an incredible 92.9p for diesel, traditionally seen as a cheaper alternative to petrol. The cheapest price per litre for unleaded was 83.9p (£3.81 a gallon) at Shell in Great Barr and Total in Smethwick. The majority of stations polled are still charging between 84 and 87 pence per litre. Geoff Humphries, Midland spokesman for the Association of British Drivers, said: "Whatever is going on in the world, 70 per cent of the price is still tax. "The Government raises £46 billion a year in fuel duty and needs to invest more of that in transport - both the road network and public transport.
PUMPING UP PRICES
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"People are forced to pay up because there are no alternatives to the car." Pritesh Pattni, owner of Total on Bristol Street, said customers are not as angry as they were during the fuel blockades of 2000. He said: "People do not complain like they used to, they are resigned to it. "There is also less competition because so many petrol stations have closed so others can charge what they like." Edmund King, executive director of the RAC Foundation, warned there was likely to be an inevitable impact on petrol prices. He said: "We are likely to see more increases at the pumps as the oil price goes up. All we can hope for is that one of the chains break rank, as some of the supermarkets have done in the past." | 
