Drivers urged to avoid motorway services to save up to £19 on fuel this bank holiday weekend

This August bank holiday is expected to be the busiest on the roads in more than a decade.

With nearly 20 million car trips estimated to be made over the three-day weekend, many motorists will flock to gas stations to fill up on fuel before or during their trips.

But with motorway services charging hugely inflated prices, the consumer watchdog has revealed how drivers who take small detours can find significantly cheaper petrol nearby.

This is the biggest savings drivers can make by going off-road this weekend.

The RAC expects Britons to make 19.2 million leisure car journeys between Friday and Monday, causing heavy traffic for drivers throughout the weekend.

The figure, based on a survey of 2,128 UK adults, is the highest since the 2015 summer bank holiday weekend.

While yesterday (Saturday) was forecast to be the busiest day of the weekend with 3.7 million trips planned, there will be another 3.1 million today and 3 million tomorrow, the car group says.

Many of these vehicles will use highways to reach their destinations in the shortest possible time.

But those who choose to stop for fuel at service stations on the UK motorway network will be hit with inflated prices.

While most drivers are aware that motorway services are much more expensive to recharge, many are unaware of the average prices in the nearby area away from these busy main roads.

Which? and PetrolPrices.com have been crunching the numbers on how much cheaper petrol could become if drivers are willing to take a short detour off the motorway.

The biggest fuel bill savings drivers can expect on popular routes this weekend have been calculated.

The biggest savings this weekend if you’re willing to take a slight detour off the highway

Gasoline prices provided are calculated using fuel prices published on August 16, which means they are likely to have changed this weekend.

However, price differences between motorway service stations and those located closer to cities and in more rural areas will remain similar, with fluctuations due to higher prices charged for services.

The cases listed below are examples where gas prices are cheaper just a few miles away, and sometimes closer to the tourist spots people are likely to visit.

Figures show that anyone heading to Cornwall’s beaches and needing petrol near Taunton Deane services could save around 30p a litre by leaving the M5 and stopping at the Sainsbury’s petrol station near junction 25.

Filling a typical 55-litre fuel tank with petrol would cost £16.50 cheaper on the forecourt of this supermarket than at the motorway service station (£33 if you need to refuel on the drive there and back).

The same goes for those heading to popular shopping destination Bicester in Oxfordshire, where the outlet stores at Bicester Village attract many customers over the bank holiday.

Instead of refuelling on the M40 at Cherwell Valley service stations, drivers could save 34p per litre by filling up at the Esso station or Tesco supermarket near the Oxford Road shopping centre.

Some of the examples listed by Which? show the cheapest destination for refuelling at Costco branches. These locations are only available to those with a Costco membership, which starts from £33.60

Natalie Hitchins from Which? said: ‘Motorists heading off on a holiday this bank holiday weekend should check petrol prices before they set off.

‘Head to petrol stations away from motorway services to save some money as they are notoriously expensive.

‘It’s also worth checking prices even when travelling off the motorways, as our research shows areas of the UK where savings of around £5 per tankful can be made when you shop around.’

Great savings locally if you compare prices

While the biggest fuel price savings are made at cheap service stations rather than motorway services, drivers will also benefit from significant savings if they compare prices locally.

If you live in an area where fuel costs are close to the national average of 142p per litre, use a site like Gasoline prices.com to see if travelling a little further afield might result in cheaper fuel revenues.

You don’t want to stray too far from your route, but you may be able to link your next charge to a trip that passes near the cheapest area.

For example, at the time of writing, if you live in Redhill, Surrey, local unleaded prices are around 143.9p. But if you travel just 5 miles south and cross the county border into Horley, West Sussex, you’ll benefit from Asda’s unleaded price of just 135.7p.

That’s about £4.50 less for a 55-litre tank of unleaded petrol. If you fill up your tank twice a month, that equates to a saving of £108 a year.

Can you also save on electric vehicle charging?

While you can save money by comparing gas prices, the same can’t be said for charging electric cars.

Most public rapid chargers are roughly the same price across the UK, while many service stations have large charging areas for electric cars.

So if you need to fill up, there’s not much reason not to use a motorway service station.