Britain’s petrol retailers have been
accused of profiteering from the energy
crisis after research found they had
failed to pass on nearly half of Rishi
Sunak’s 5p fuel duty cut.
As diesel prices hit record highs, the
RAC said that retailers were taking, on
average, 2p more in profit per litre of
fuel sold than they did before the
chancellor reduced duty in March.
With motorists buying about three
and a half billion litres of fuel a month,
the research suggests that supermarkets
and other petrol retailers may be making
extra profits of about £7 million a
month. Ministers urged retailers to pass
on the duty cut to motorists to ease the
cost of living. Tory MPs called for a
regulator to protect consumers.
“These companies are fleecing
motorists along with the major oil com-
panies and seem to be the only people
doing well out of the war in Ukraine and
the cost-of-living crisis,” said Robert
Halfon, who led the campaign for the
March fuel duty cut. “It is high time that
the government set up a pump-watch
regulator to ensure fair prices.”
The rises came as:
6 The governor of the Bank of England
warned of “apocalyptic” food price rises
as a result of the conflict in Ukraine,
saying that British consumers faced a
“very real income shock”.
6 Ofgem, the energy regulator, pro-
posed reviewing the price cap on
household energy bills every three
months to ensure that savings from a
potential fall in gas prices were passed
on to customers more rapidly.
6 Sunak told Tory MPs that the
economic situation would become
Oliver Wright Policy Editor
Steven Swinford, Ben Clatworthy
A 17-year-old has become the only
professional footballer playing in Britain
to come out as gay.
Jake Daniels, a striker with Blackpool
in the Championship, England’s second
tier of league football, is the first male
British player to come out publicly
since Justin Fashanu in 1990.
Daniels said that he had been
Petrol firm
‘profiteers’
fail to pass
on duty cut
“even more difficult” in the coming
months and said his priority was to help
“the most vulnerable families”.
The RAC compared the difference
between the average wholesale price of
petrol and the retail price on British
forecourts both before and after the
chancellor’s intervention. It found that
in the month before Sunak’s announce-
ment, the average margin for petrol was
9p a litre and 6p a litre for diesel. The
latest figures suggest that this has risen
to an 11p margin for unleaded petrol
and 8p for diesel. The RAC said the
long-term average for unleaded petrol
was 7.5p and 8p for diesel.
When Sunak announced his cut in
fuel duty, the average price of petrol
stood at 167.01p and 179.9p for diesel. At
the time the average price of Brent
crude stood at $113. This week the aver-
age price of a litre of unleaded was less
than one pence cheaper, at 166.65p, and
diesel was a record 180.3p per litre.
Brent was also trading at a similar price,
having fluctuated between $100 and
$114 over the intervening period.
Some of this price rise at the pump
can be put down to a fall in the value of
sterling against the US dollar — the
currency to which the oil price is
pegged. The wholesale price of diesel
has also been affected by efforts to re-
duce the importation of Russian diesel.
However, the RAC analysis suggests
these additional costs do not fully
explain the disparity, and that having
initially passed on the discount to
motorists, many service stations have
increased their prices over and above
their additional wholesale costs.
This has been denied by the Petrol
Retailers Association, which represents
small retailers, who said that their
Continued on page 2, col 3President Putin is making low-level
tactical decisions that would normally
be decided by an officer in charge of as
few as 700 Russian troops, western
military sources say.
A military source said that Putin and
General Valery Gerasimov, chief of the
general staff, were dictating basic
movements of their forces in Ukraine.Meddling Putin does the job of a colonel
Larisa Brown Defence Editor “We think Putin and Gerasimov are
involved in tactical decision-making at
a level we would normally expect to be
taken by a colonel or a brigadier,” the
source said.
He added that it was believed Putin’s
most senior general was still “up and
running” despite claims that he had
been suspended after military failures.
A second military source said that in
the Russian military, a colonel orbrigadier would normally command
the equivalent of two battalion tactical
groups (BTGs), each comprising approx-
imately 900 personnel. However, the
source said that the Russian BTGs had
been “battered” and that “if Putin is
doing the job of a brigade commander...
he could be delving into a force that
could be as small as 700 to 1,000 soldiers”.
He compared the situation to the
Continued on page 2, col 5Tories call for crackdown as fuel hits new high
DMYTRO KOZATSKY
Keeping the faith
One of the
hundreds of
Ukrainian
soldiers under
siege in the
Mariupol
steelworks was
photographed
by Dmytro
Kozatsky, who
posted the
image on TwitterProtein before carbs? The new healthy food rules Times
£2.20 £1.45 to subscribers
Tuesday May 17 2022 | thetimes.co.uk | No 73785 (based on 7 Day Print Pack)Footballer aged 17 makes history by coming out as gay
Martyn Ziegler Chief Sports Reporter inspired by other gay sportsmen
including the British Olympic diver
Tom Daley, Josh Cavallo, an Australian
who is the only other active professional
to come out in world football, and Matt
Morton, player-manager of the non-
league club Thetford Town in Norfolk.
“It’s a step into the unknown being
one of the first footballers in this coun-
try to reveal my sexuality,” he told Sky
Sports News. “But I’ve been inspired by
Josh Cavallo, Matt Morton and athletes
from other sports, like Tom Daley, to
have the courage and determination to
drive change. I am hoping that by
coming out, I can be a role model, to
help others come out if they want to.
“I am only 17 but if by me coming
out, other people look at me and feel
maybe they can do it as well, that would
be brilliant.”
He added: “The subject of being gay,or bi or queer in men’s football is still a
taboo. I think it comes down to how a
lot of footballers want to be known
for their masculinity. And people see
being gay as being weak, something you
can be picked on for on the football
field. It’s an easy thing for people to
target.”
Daniels said that telling his mother
and sister had been a weight off his
shoulders — a day later he scoredfour goals in a youth fixture against
Accrington Stanley.
He has appeared once for Blackpool’s
senior team, as a substitute this month,
but has signed a sponsorship deal with
Adidas. Blackpool, the Professional
Footballers’ Association, the English
Football League and Football Associa-
tion all expressed their support, along
with many players and former players.
Role model, page 64