SUPERMARKET operator Asda slashed the price of fuel today.

The retailer, which has a store and garage at Bradford Road in Huddersfield, is selling petrol at 127.7p a litre and diesel at 132.7p a litre.

The move is likely to prompt price cuts among other major retailers.

Sainsbury’s was the first to respond, reducing its fuel prices “by up to 2p per litre” from today.

Leeds-based Asda said its prices per litre was now at their lowest level since February, 2011.

The latest cut means Asda has shaved 14p off the cost of a litre of fuel since the end of April, reducing the cost of filling up a family car by almost £10.

Asda’s petrol trading director Andy Peake said: “After a weekend of falling oil prices and fading hopes of an England victory at the Euros, our petrol price cut will bring a smile back to the nation’s faces.”

Jane Barrett, manager of independent petrol retailer CJ Stern’s Scar Lane filling station at Milnsbridge, said the price trend was definitely downward.

“Prices are tumbling at the moment,” she said. “We went down a couple of pence to 129.9p a litre for unleaded and 135.09p for diesel last week.

“It means we are a bit busier. It is nice to have some good news – and it is nice that customers are noticing the decrease as well.”

The AA said the 14p Asda reduction since April was welcome. While Asda had dropped its petrol price largely in line with wholesale, the UK average was down by 10.5p a litre since the record high in mid-April.

But the AA said the cuts would not benefit all motorists.

AA public affairs head Paul Watters said: “We expect to see the usual behaviour of other retailers matching Asda where they need to while charging up to 4p a litre more in other towns, from southern England up into the Midlands.

“This winds up drivers, local and national politicians more than retailers seem to understand.

“The Government’s pressure for fuel price transparency may help to reduce the postcode lottery that blights fuel prices in the UK.

“It may also address the disparity between petrol versus diesel prices at wholesale level and the price gap at the pump.

“In April, retailers in Europe were charging less before tax for diesel than petrol. Not in the UK, of course.”