How much more do motorway services charge for fuel?
Motorway forecourts charged 21.7p a litre more for petrol than supermarkets, adding £11.94 to a 55-litre fill. The cheapest and dearest services, from every UK forecourt.
Fuel
£11.94
extra to fill a 55-litre petrol tank at motorway services
- 21.7p more a litre for petrol at motorway services than supermarkets
- £11.94 extra on a 55-litre petrol fill
- 19.5p more a litre for diesel
- 199.9p dearest petrol at a motorway service area
Filling up at motorway services costs a lot more than anywhere else. We compared the latest prices at every forecourt in the UK to show how much more, which service areas charge the most, and where the cheaper stops are.
All prices are from the Fuel Finder snapshot at 06:47 on 17 September 2026. For today’s prices, use our UK fuel price finder.
How much more do you pay for fuel at motorway services?
Motorway forecourts charged 21.7p a litre more for petrol and 19.5p more for diesel than supermarket forecourts. Petrol averaged 190.6p at motorway services against 168.8p at supermarkets.
Petrol and diesel prices by type of forecourt
The gap is about 13% on petrol. Ordinary forecourts, the town garages and branded sites that are neither supermarkets nor motorway services, sit much closer to the supermarkets than to the motorway.
| Forecourt type | Forecourts | Petrol (E10) | Diesel (B7) | 55-litre petrol fill | 55-litre diesel fill |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Supermarket | 2,308 | 168.8p | 191.5p | £92.87 | £105.33 |
| Other forecourts | 5,604 | 172.5p | 195.7p | £94.87 | £107.63 |
| Motorway services | 168 | 190.6p | 211.0p | £104.80 | £116.08 |
| Motorway minus supermarket | +21.7p | +19.5p | +£11.94 | +£10.75 |
Averages count every forecourt with a current price equally, and gaps and fill costs are worked out before rounding. Petrol is E10 unleaded and diesel is standard B7, the two fuels most drivers buy.
How we measured it
Forecourts selling fuel to the public must report their prices to the government’s Fuel Finder scheme within 30 minutes of a change. We read the whole feed twice a day and leave out prices that haven’t changed for 14 days or look like typing errors.
Each forecourt says for itself whether it is a motorway service station or a supermarket. The full rules are on our methodology page.
What does the gap cost on a full tank?
On a 55-litre fill, motorway services cost £11.94 more than a supermarket for petrol and £10.75 more for diesel.
The cost of one fill at each type of forecourt
A family car with a 55-litre tank paid £104.80 to fill with petrol at the average motorway price. The same fill cost £92.87 at the average supermarket and £94.87 at an ordinary forecourt.
Diesel drivers paid £116.08 on the motorway against £105.33 at a supermarket. Even compared with an ordinary garage, the motorway added £9.93 to a petrol fill and £8.45 to a diesel one.
Why a top-up costs less than you’d think
The extra is in proportion to what you buy. Twenty litres of motorway petrol cost £4.34 more than at a supermarket, so a small top-up to reach a cheaper forecourt limits the damage.
Related: Where fuel is cheapest in the UK
Which motorway services charge the most?
The dearest motorway petrol was 199.9p a litre, at four Esso forecourts run as Asda Express sites. For diesel, 44 BP motorway forecourts all charged 217.9p.
The most expensive motorway forecourts
The four forecourts at 199.9p for petrol were Asda Cherwell Valley Express near Bicester, Stafford South Express on the M6, Tamworth Express and Scotch Corner Express. The priciest diesel was at BP sites such as Medway East services on the M2, at 217.9p.
Across all its forecourts, Welcome Break was the dearest brand in the UK, averaging 187.2p for petrol and 208.4p for diesel. Its motorway sites alone averaged 193.4p, and BP’s motorway forecourts averaged 193.8p.
Why motorway prices cluster together
Motorway prices bunch at a few figures. 90 of the 161 motorway forecourts with a petrol price charged either 194.9p or 196.9p, and 121 of 152 charged more than 200p for diesel.
The Competition and Markets Authority found the same pattern in its road fuel market study final report. It said price variation among retailers on motorways is low, and that high motorway prices reflect weak competition between motorway forecourts.
| Brand (motorway forecourts only) | Forecourts | Petrol | Diesel |
|---|---|---|---|
| BP | 83 | 193.8p | 215.1p |
| Welcome Break | 29 | 193.4p | 213.6p |
| Esso | 19 | 190.8p | 211.2p |
| Shell | 17 | 185.1p | 203.5p |
Are any motorway services cheaper?
Yes. Rontec Magor on the M4 charged 171.9p for petrol, 18.7p below the motorway average and only 3.1p above the supermarket average.
The cheapest motorway service areas in Great Britain
After Magor services at junction 23 of the M4, the next cheapest were Shell Cullompton at junction 28 of the M5 and Rontec Cardiff West on the M4, both at 173.9p. Shell Cullompton also had the cheapest motorway diesel, at 193.9p.
Shell’s motorway forecourts were the cheapest of the big brands on the motorway, averaging 185.1p for petrol. That is still about 16p a litre above the supermarket average.
Why our motorway average may be too low
Some forecourts that describe themselves as motorway services are really on A-roads, where prices are often lower. Counting only forecourts on a motorway or named as motorway services, petrol averaged 193.7p and diesel 213.9p.
So the true gap with supermarkets is, if anything, a little bigger than 21.7p.
Is motorway fuel dearer everywhere in the UK?
Not quite. In Northern Ireland, Applegreen Templepatrick on the M2 charged 166.8p for petrol, below the UK supermarket average, and 191.8p for diesel, level with it.
Northern Ireland’s motorway services
Northern Ireland has the cheapest fuel of the four UK nations, with petrol averaging 166.2p against 172.2p in England. Its motorway forecourt at Templepatrick followed local prices rather than the higher motorway pattern seen in Great Britain.
That makes it 23.8p a litre cheaper than the average motorway forecourt across the UK. On a 55-litre fill, the difference comes to £13.06.
Is the motorway premium bigger for petrol or diesel?
The premium is larger for petrol in pence, at 21.7p against 19.5p for diesel. Diesel is dearer everywhere, though, so a diesel fill on the motorway is the most expensive of all at £116.08 for 55 litres.
The ordinary forecourts in between tell the same story. They charged 3.6p a litre more than supermarkets for petrol and 4.2p more for diesel, a small gap next to the motorway’s.
| Fuel | Supermarket | Other forecourts | Motorway services | Motorway premium over supermarkets |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Petrol (E10) | 168.8p | 172.5p | 190.6p | +21.7p (12.9%) |
| Diesel (B7) | 191.5p | 195.7p | 211.0p | +19.5p (10.2%) |
Related: Fuel prices in Northern Ireland
How can you avoid paying motorway prices?
Fill up before you join the motorway, or leave at a junction with a supermarket nearby. Supermarket forecourts averaged the lowest prices of any type, 21.7p a litre below motorway services.
Plan the fill before the trip
The joint cheapest forecourt in the UK was Asda Sheffield Supercentre at 157.9p for petrol, 32.7p below the motorway average. Our fuel finder shows the cheapest forecourts near any postcode, sorted by price.
Among the supermarkets, Asda averaged 168.4p and Tesco 168.5p for petrol. Filling up before a long drive and topping up only if you need to keeps motorway fuel to a minimum.
Get the cheapest prices sent to you
Our free weekly fuel price email lists the five cheapest forecourts for petrol and diesel within 5 miles of your postcode, every Saturday morning. It uses the same Fuel Finder prices as this article.
The government also publishes weekly UK average pump prices. Those figures are measured differently, so they won’t match ours exactly.
FAQs
How much more is fuel at motorway services?
At 06:47 on 17 September 2026, motorway forecourts averaged 190.6p a litre for petrol and 211.0p for diesel. That was 21.7p and 19.5p a litre more than supermarket forecourts, which averaged 168.8p and 191.5p.
How much extra does a full tank cost on the motorway?
For a 55-litre fill, about £11.94 more for petrol and £10.75 more for diesel than at the supermarket average.
Which motorway services had the cheapest fuel?
In this snapshot, Rontec Magor on the M4 (171.9p petrol) and Shell Cullompton on the M5 (173.9p petrol, 193.9p diesel) were the cheapest motorway service areas in Great Britain.
Which motorway services were the most expensive?
Four Esso forecourts run as Asda Express sites charged 199.9p for petrol, and 44 BP motorway forecourts charged 217.9p for diesel.
Do all motorway services charge the same?
No, but most sit close together. 90 of the 161 motorway forecourts with a petrol price charged either 194.9p or 196.9p.
Is it worth leaving the motorway to fill up?
An ordinary forecourt off the motorway averaged 18.1p a litre less for petrol, about £9.93 on 55 litres. Whether a detour pays depends on how far you go, so check the prices near your junction first.
Where do these prices come from?
The statutory Fuel Finder scheme, which requires forecourts selling fuel to the public to report price changes within 30 minutes. UK Motoring reads every forecourt's prices twice a day.
About the author
Chris Richards is the founder of UK Motoring and the man behind SimplyQuote. A petrolhead and supercar lover, he writes about fuel prices, car costs and the data behind Britain’s roads.
