AVERAGE petrol prices in Southampton have soared to record levels, clearing £1.20 a litre for the first time – the highest in the country.

Despite almost all of the petrol sold at forecourts south of the M25 coming through Hampshire’s Fawley Refinery, the region is still groaning at pump prices almost a penny a litre above the national average.

Average prices in the Southampton region are 120.4p a litre, well over the UK record of 119.7p.

The average in Southampton is now higher than the highest price in the country just a fortnight ago – recorded at the Park Lane station beside London’s Hyde Park.

Yesterday, the highest price in the region had climbed to a wallet-busting 126.9p a litre according to Petrolprices.com, while Asda in Chandler’s Ford was the cheapest for both unleaded and diesel at 116.9p.

The AA said families now paid £52 a month more on petrol than a year ago and 67 per cent of members said they were cutting back on car use as a result.

A spokesman for the Independent Petrol Retailers Association said any notion of motorists being “mugged”

by forecourt owners was “complete nonsense”. He blamed the high prices on the fall in the value of the pound against the dollar and on hikes in tax, with almost 80p in the price of a litre now going to the Government.

Far from profiting, petrol retailers are hurting as drivers reign in spending, he said.

“I’m expecting the number of forecourt closures to increase by about 50 per cent over the course of this year.

“We’re expecting rural independents to be particularly badly hit.”

Hampshire’s Haulage firms are also feeling the pain.

Gary Whittle, commercial director of Nursling based Meachers Global Logistics, said: “The continued trend in rising fuel prices does little to help the haulage industry and its customers.”

And it’s not just hauliers who are hard hit.

Chris Treacher, managing director of Wise Catering, said: “Hearing that we hold the record for the highest average fuel price in the UK is not good news. The recent staggered approach to fuel duty announced at the budget does nothing to reverse the trend of rising petrol prices and the increases will ultimately hit Britain’s businesses and the economy hard.”

RAC motoring strategist Adrian Tink said: “The real fear is that, if oil prices continue to rise, we’ll have a perfect storm of high fuel duty, a weak pound and an increasing oil price – that could be disastrous. It’s time that something was done by both the energy companies and the Government.”