Supermarkets raising diesel prices twice as fast as other forecourts

Update, 2 October 2026. The Asda figures below cover Asda's supermarket forecourts only. Asda also sets the price at around 470 Asda Express forecourts, most of them branded Esso, BP, Shell or Texaco in the government feed, which this release counted among "other forecourts". Re-run with them included, Sainsbury's is still the fastest riser on every definition; Asda as a whole rose more slowly than its supermarkets alone (Asda Express forecourts rose 1.1p in the week to 1 October), and "twice as fast" holds for supermarket-branded forecourts (about 1.7 times if Asda Express is counted as supermarket). No supermarket-branded forecourt was charging £2 or more for diesel on 1 October; 300 of Asda's 467 Express forecourts were. The live tables now show Asda Express separately.

The UK's four biggest supermarkets have raised the price of diesel twice as fast as other forecourts over the past week, according to an analysis of the government's own fuel price data by British Fuel Prices.

In the seven days to 29 September, Sainsbury's raised diesel by an average of 4.7p a litre across its 315 forecourts, 314 of which put the price up. Tesco followed with a 4.3p rise across 510 forecourts, Morrisons with 4.2p across 339 and Asda with 3.7p across 321. The other 6,038 forecourts in the comparison, including the oil majors and independents, rose by an average of 2.1p.

Petrol followed the same pattern. Sainsbury's raised unleaded by 3.2p, Asda by 2.8p, Tesco by 2.5p and Morrisons by 2.4p, against 1.3p at every other forecourt.

A fortnight of rises

Over the past 14 days Sainsbury's has raised diesel by 11.4p a litre and Morrisons by 11.0p, against a UK average of 9.4p. Shell moved least of the major brands, at 6.1p.

Reports this week named Asda as the fastest riser. On a like-for-like comparison of the same forecourts, Asda is fourth of the big four on diesel over the past week and second on petrol.

Supermarkets are still the cheaper place to fill up, but by less than before. Sainsbury's diesel now averages 196.8p and Tesco's 196.9p, against 200.5p at other forecourts.

How the figures work

Each forecourt's price today is compared with the price the same forecourt was charging seven days earlier, and only forecourts with a current price at both points are counted. That stops a brand's figure moving simply because a different set of its forecourts reported that day.

Sam Allcock, editor of British Fuel Prices, said: "Drivers have always been told the supermarket is the cheap option, and it still is, but the gap is closing fast. In a single week the big four put diesel up at twice the rate of everyone else. Anyone who fills up at a supermarket out of habit should check the forecourt down the road."

The full rankings, filterable by fuel, period, brand, region and town, are at britishfuelprices.co.uk/fastest-rising.

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. Like-for-like change per forecourt, averaged across each brand. Supermarkets means Asda, Tesco, Sainsbury's and Morrisons. Petrol means E10 unleaded; diesel means standard B7.
• Dates. Prices reported up to 29 September 2026. Seven-day figures compare with 22 September; 14-day figures with 15 September.
• Exclusions. Forecourts that have not reported for more than 14 days are left out, as are prices more than 25% from the national median, which are treated as typing errors.
• Data. Every table as a spreadsheet.
• 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