A week out from Christmas, south-east Queensland motorists have again been slugged with record petrol prices, a day after Brisbane set a fuel price record.
Fuel prices climbed to 174.9¢ a litre on Friday in Brisbane, breaking Thursday’s record, while further afield Gold Coast and Ipswich prices also spiked.
Service stations in Woolloongabba, Milton, Newstead and Taringa were charging above Brisbane’s average price per litre on Friday, with prices as high as 174.9¢ per litre.
The RACQ warned 86 per cent of retailers had hiked their prices above 171¢ per litre in Brisbane.
RACQ spokeswoman Lauren Ritchie said it was disappointing motorists were being stung at the bowser so close to the festive season.
“Expenses can be critical for families and transport costs make up a huge portion of the household budget,” she said.
“We certainly can’t afford to pay these sorts of prices, which is why we are telling motorists to boycott filling up if they can avoid it.”
The Gold Coast reported an average of 173¢ per litre, the highest daily average in the state, while the Sunshine Coast was still entering the most expensive part of the fuel price cycle.
“They are a day behind the rest of south-east Queensland and while they are having an expensive cycle as of now, they are yet to peak,” Ms Ritchie said.
“The Sunshine Coast’s current record is 166.7¢ per litre and though they are not anywhere near the record, we also can’t rule out the possibilities of breaking the record.”
To Brisbane’s west, Ipswich also saw a daily average price record of 168.5¢, smashing a year-old record.
“What we usually see is that prices shoot up very quickly and then they will start to come down in the coming days ahead by 2¢ to 3¢ per litre per day,” Ms Ritchie said.
Extracted from Brisbane Times