MOTORISTS in Huddersfield are braced for further rises in petrol prices – as unleaded fuel broke the £1-a-litre barrier again.

Figures from website PetrolPrices.com showed the price of unleaded had shot up by 15.6% since the start of the year – adding about £7.50 to the price of filling an average 55-litre tank.

A poll of more than 7,000 filling stations by the website showed that almost a third were now selling unleaded at £1 a litre or more in the wake of rising oil prices and increases in fuel duty.

That takes prices back to the levels of last October when they last touched the £1 mark.

Chris Stern, of Paddock-based retailer CJ Stern (Oils) Ltd, said the price of unleaded on local forecourts now ranged from 96.9p to 101.9p a litre – closing the gap with diesel which now ranged from 99.9p to 103.9p.

And he warned: “The only way is up as far as prices are concerned. All the indicators are that prices will continue to rise.”

Mr Stern said the wholesale price of oil in dollars had risen from the mid-30s to the mid-60s – creating a knock-on effect.

“Prices for unleaded are moving up more quickly than prices for diesel and now there is not much between them,” he said. “I expect that next week we will see further increases on these prices.”

Mr Stern said prices would probably have risen by another 1p a litre, but for a slight strengthening of the pound against the dollar.

The price of unleaded had also been driven up by American retailers starting to stockpile ready for the US summer motoring season.

At the same time, diesel prices were more subdued because of falling demand from hauliers in the current recession.