UK petrol prices climbed to an average of 160p per litre on 31 July 2026, the highest level since November 2022. The reason is oil: the conflict between the United States and Iran pushed the price of a barrel of crude oil above $90. Oil is the raw material used to make petrol and diesel, so when oil gets more expensive, fuel at the pump does too. Diesel rose to 179p per litre over the same period, up 14.5p, though it remained below the April 2026 high of 192p. The RAC, which compiled the pump-price data, said filling a typical family-size car with unleaded now costs £88 (The Guardian).

The price surge follows a brief reprieve earlier in July. Petrol had dropped to 151p per litre after a Middle East ceasefire announcement before climbing back to 160p — a 9.38p increase that The Guardian characterised as a new "Iran War high" (The Guardian). A ceasefire is an agreement to stop fighting. When it looked like the conflict might ease, oil prices dropped and so did fuel prices. But the United States then struck Iran multiple times in the days preceding 31 July, according to The Guardian's reporting, and prices went back up. Brent crude rose more than 1% on the day to settle above $90.

Simon Williams, the RAC's head of policy, described the outlook as "pretty grim" and said it looked "highly likely that a litre of petrol will surpass 160p" (Yahoo Finance UK). Williams separately projected that diesel would probably reach 185p per litre in the coming weeks, unless oil prices fell sharply (The Guardian). BBC News corroborated the 160p figure, reporting it as the highest petrol price since the Iran war began (BBC News).

The timing compounds the pressure on households. AA spokesperson Luke Bosdet said AA polling indicated 20.5 million UK drivers would take to the road in the third week of the holiday season, a period when fuel demand typically peaks (The Guardian). When more people need fuel at the same time that oil supplies are disrupted, prices have little reason to come down.

One change since the last comparable price spike is the UK government's Fuel Finder scheme, which requires all petrol stations to report their prices publicly. Enforcement began in May 2026. The idea is that if drivers can see prices at different stations, they can shop around for the cheapest option. But whether that actually keeps prices down during a supply-driven surge is an open question.

The ripple effects extend beyond the UK. Euronews reported in May 2026 that fuel prices across Europe rose rapidly following the US-Israel strike on Iran, with Spanish petrol prices climbing 18% from €1.59 to €1.88 per litre (Euronews). Euronews also cited a Reuters article from 1 March 2026 on US gasoline prices in the context of the Iran war, placing the American retail fuel experience within the same geopolitical pricing picture.

The RAC publishes ongoing fuel price tracking on its Fuel Watch page (RAC Fuel Watch), and a European comparison page last updated 13 July 2026 shows UK pump prices alongside continental benchmarks (RAC European Fuel Prices). The RAC's media site has carried successive statements on the trajectory of fuel costs, including a 20 July 2026 release framing the rises as evidence of how exposed UK drivers are to global oil market events (RAC Media).

The broader context here is a chain of events that moves quickly from military action to oil markets to the petrol station down your road. Think of it like a relay race: a shock in one part of the world passes the baton to oil traders, who pass it to fuel suppliers, who pass it to the pump price you see. In July, a ceasefire announcement dropped prices to 151p, and renewed strikes reversed that decline within weeks. For UK households, the £88 fill-up cost arrives alongside a diesel trajectory that, on the RAC's own modelling, points toward 185p. The Fuel Finder scheme offers transparency but cannot set a ceiling on what stations charge. With 20.5 million drivers preparing for peak holiday travel, fewer people buying fuel is unlikely in the near term. The factor most likely to change the picture is also the hardest to predict: how intense the US-Iran fighting becomes, and what that does to the price of oil.