SIR – On leaving the city of Worcester early on Thursday, August 7, I noted that the pump price of petrol was £118.9 per litre.

This price remained fairly stable until Grantham when I was offered a price of £111.9 a litre.

At 6pm on Friday, August 8, on leaving and at a fair distance into the country from Spalding, the price that I paid to refill the tank with a branded fuel was £112.9 a litre. The price on arrival back in Worcester was £116.9 a litre.

The wholesale price of crude oil has dropped by 18 per cent according to BBC Radio 4 so who is reaping the benefits and why do the oil companies persist with these regional price variations not to mention the apparent cartel of pricing?

Most certainly it is the end user, the motorist, who suffers the most.

JOHN PEDLEY,

Worcester.