MOTORING groups have urged the Government to scrap plans for a fuel duty rises next month.

The AA claimed that the near-2p increase should not go ahead because it may hinder economic recovery.

But a Huddersfield petrol retailer said the industry was not expecting to see a reprieve.

The AA’s latest monthly fuel report said that since the start of the year, the typical cost of a tank of petrol had risen by £1.70.

The 1.84p per litre increase in fuel duty from April 1 – together with VAT – would add another 2.12p to the price of a litre of petrol, it said.

At current prices, the increase would make a litre of petrol 5.53p a litre more expensive than at the start of 2009.

The increase is due to take effect after petrol prices flattened out during the past four weeks.

Chris Stern, of Paddock-based C J Stern (Oils) Ltd, said: “All the pointers are that the duty increase will happen and we will have to live with it.

“The Government needs every penny and there is no Budget or financial statement due before April.

“The Budget itself is late – on April 22.”

Mr Stern, who runs filling stations in Paddock and Milnsbridge, said the duty increase would have a knock-on effect throughout the economy by increasing transport costs as well as prices for gas oil used by agriculture and for heating.

Edmund King, the AA president, likened the Government stance to the “anti-car” policies of some local councils in raising parking charges or proposing to fees on firms providing workplace parking.

He said: “If the Government goes ahead with its fuel duty hike on April 1, it will join local authorities in conveniently forgetting that drivers also face the threat of severe financial hardship from the credit crunch.”