Their right to reply

You might remember that I wrote to BP late last week

In Windsor, where I live, my nearest BP station sells unleaded at 95.9p a litre. I work in Farnborough where the nearest BP station sells unleaded at 93.9p a litre. I drive to work through Bagshot where the BP station sells unleaded at 97.9p a litre. In Reading last night I saw a BP forecourt offering unleaded for 92.9p a litre.

I appreciate that you exist to make a profit, but how can you justify such a wide price range in such a small geographical area? Should I have to pay more for my petrol because I live in a 'wealthy; area?

Here's what they have to say for themselves

Dear Mr Day

A nice start

Pricing of fuel at the pumps takes many factors into consideration and can be very complex. One is the cost of crude, which as we saw in 2004, fluctuated from around $30 a barrel and peaked at $50 in the space of a few months, it is now at a high of around $63 a barrel. Other contributory factors can be the cost of the refined product, high demand across the world, global political tensions, £/$ rate, even the weather.

Ignoring the poor grammar, punctuation and abysmal sentence construction which sadly continues throughout the letter, this paragraph doesn't address my question at all.

Motor fuel is heavily taxed in the UK with 70% of the pump price going to the government in excise duty and VAT and therefore that part of the price is out of our control. Before tax, UK fuel prices are amongst the lowest in Europe.

That's a bit like saying apart from the coughing up of blood and the excruciating pain, lung cancer is a very pleasant way of dying. It doesn’t answer my question.

We are continually focusing on driving down the costs we can control and optimising our performance. In this fiercely competitive market we have seen a number of petrol stations closing and retailers are increasingly focusing on non-fuel activities in order to stay in business. This is evidenced by the wide range of non-fuel items now introduced into our stores such as the Wild Bean Cafe and the Connect offers.

Poor BP, they only made £8.7 billion profit in 2004. Still doesn't answer the question.

BP's pricing policy on our company owned network is based on maintaining value for money for consumers within each local trading area reflecting the location of the site, its facilities (ie shop, car wash etc) and the competition. We monitor prices and aim to remain as competitive as possible across the UK.

Sounds a bit like - we'll charge what we think we can get away with.

BP branded sites outside our company owned network are owned by dealers who are independent businessmen and are free to set their own selling prices.

Sounds a lot like - they'll charge what they think they can get away with.

Thank you for giving us the opportunity to comment on our prices and [we] trust that we have clarified this very complex subject for you.

So no surprises. The market is king. On the plus side they do seem to respond to the local situation. A new Esso station opened on Frimley Road this week selling unleaded for 91.9p a litre. The BP station down the road from it soon dropped its price to 91.9p. A price war would be a good thing. Go on BP, drop you price to 90.9p. I dare you.