Sunbury motorists appear to be victims of a ‘tax’, a driver who has undertaken a detailed comparison of petrol prices believes.
Steve Coughlan started a tally of prices in Sunbury, Craigieburn and Bulla after noticing frequent social media complaints about discrepancies between unleaded prices in the three towns.
‘‘I’ve only been doing it for about a week, but there’s a five to six cent [per litre] difference,’’ he said.
‘‘That might not sound like much, but it sure adds up if you’re topping up and using 60 to 80 litres a week.’’
Mr Coughlan, who plans to broaden his fuel watch to areas such as Watergardens, said there was a definite trend.
‘‘Prices [on Thursday] in Craigieburn are down to $1.16 a litre and in Sunbury they’re still around $1.24,’’ he said.
‘‘Unfortunately, it seems like there’s a Sunbury tax and there’s no reason for it. It’s just as easy to transport fuel to Sunbury as it is to Craigieburn.’’
Mr Coughlan said he had received responses from BP and Coles Express.
‘‘It was the stock standard ‘we have a number of factors which determine our pricing’, but they aren’t saying which one of these factors means Sunbury has to pay more,’’ he said.
The Australasian Convenience and Petroleum Marketers Association, BP and Coles Express did not respond by deadline.
