Island drivers paying the UK's highest diesel prices, up to 13.7p a litre above average

Drivers in the Scottish islands and Highlands are paying the highest diesel prices in the UK, according to an analysis of the government's own fuel price data by British Fuel Prices.

Diesel in the Outer Hebrides (HS postcodes) averages 212.9p a litre across 12 forecourts, 13.7p above the UK average of 199.2p. Filling a 55-litre tank there costs £7.54 more than the UK average.

The next three dearest postcode areas are also in the far north of Scotland:

• Shetland (ZE): 206.0p, 6.8p above average (16 forecourts).
• Orkney and Caithness (KW): 204.3p, 5.1p above average (20 forecourts).
• Inverness and the Highlands (IV): 203.8p, 4.5p above average (59 forecourts).

At the other end, Northern Ireland averages 194.3p across 539 forecourts. A driver in the Outer Hebrides pays 18.6p a litre more than one in Northern Ireland, £10.23 a tank.

Rising from a higher starting point

Diesel has risen by 9.4p a litre across the UK in the past fortnight. At the same forecourts, prices in Shetland and in Orkney and Caithness rose by less, 6.5p, and in the Outer Hebrides by 9.1p. But because island prices started higher, drivers there are now close to or above £2.05 a litre, with few or no alternatives within reach.

Sam Allcock, editor of British Fuel Prices, said: "On the islands there is often one forecourt, or none for miles, so the advice everyone else gets about shopping around does not apply. These are the drivers who can least avoid the price, and they are paying the most."

Prices for every forecourt in Scotland are at britishfuelprices.co.uk/regions/scotland.

Notes to editors

• Source. All prices come from the UK government's Fuel Finder scheme, published under the Open Government Licence. Forecourts are legally required to report a price change within 30 minutes.
• Measure. Simple averages of diesel (standard B7) prices across forecourts in each postcode area with eight or more reporting forecourts, not weighted by volume. Motorway services are excluded so that areas with a motorway are not pushed up by service-area prices. A tank is 55 litres.
• Fortnight change is like-for-like: each forecourt's price on 29 September compared with the same forecourt on 15 September.
• Dates. Prices reported up to 29 September 2026.
• Credit. Source: British Fuel Prices analysis of official Fuel Finder data (britishfuelprices.co.uk). Online, please link to the page the figure came from.
• About British Fuel Prices. An independent site published by Domain Farm Ltd (company number 13544286). No fuel retailer pays for or sees its figures before publication.
• Contact: Sam Allcock, editor, editor@britishfuelprices.co.uk