179 open forecourts have not reported a price change in a fortnight, despite the 30-minute rule

179 forecourts listed as open have not reported a single price change to the government's Fuel Finder scheme for at least two weeks, according to British Fuel Prices, even though every UK forecourt is legally required to report a change within 30 minutes.

Over the same fortnight, 7,329 of the 7,358 forecourts that did report, 99.6%, put up the price of diesel, by an average of 9.4p a litre.

Of the 179, 82 have not reported a change for more than 30 days and 46 for more than 60. The typical forecourt on the list last reported 24 days ago. Another 27 forecourts that have also stopped reporting are flagged in the data as temporarily closed and are not counted.

Which brands

Shell has the most forecourts on the list, with 17, followed by Gulf (11), Texaco (9), Murco (8) and Esso (6). By region, Northern Ireland has 30, Scotland 29 and the East of England 19.

Two explanations

The data cannot say which applies to each forecourt. Either these forecourts have held their prices through the steepest rise in months, in which case many would now be among the cheapest in their area, or they are not reporting their changes as the law requires, in which case the prices shown to drivers on apps and comparison sites are out of date.

Sam Allcock, editor of British Fuel Prices, said: "The whole point of the new law is that drivers can trust the price they see before they set off. We leave these forecourts out of every average and flag them on their pages, but most apps don't. We are publishing the full list so drivers, and the forecourts themselves, can check it."

The full list, updated daily, is at britishfuelprices.co.uk/stale-prices.

Notes to editors

• Source. All prices come from the UK government's Fuel Finder scheme, published under the Open Government Licence. British Fuel Prices reads the feed every 30 minutes.
• Definition. A forecourt is counted when its most recent price report is more than 14 days old, it is not flagged as temporarily or permanently closed, and it still appears in the government feed. "Price change" means any reported price for any grade.
• What the data cannot show. A forecourt that genuinely has not changed its price does not need to report. The count is of forecourts that have not reported, not of confirmed breaches.
• Dates. Prices reported up to 29 September 2026. The fortnight comparison covers 15 to 29 September.
• Brands are as recorded in the government data. Some forecourts carry an oil company's brand but are run by independent dealers.
• 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