Three major supermarket chains in Peterborough are cutting 5p off a litre of fuel – and rival filling stations are expected to follow.

Leading the way is Morrisons, in Lincoln Road, which is now charging £1.12 per litre of unleaded petrol – a drop of 4p from the weekend.

Both Tesco, in Serpentine Green, and Sainsbury's say they will follow suit, as is Asda, though the company doesn't run a petrol station in Peterborough.

BP has also announced its petrol and diesel prices at the 223 stations it operates will fall on average by 1p a litre.

Morrisons group store operations director Mark Gunter said: "The cost of crude oil and refined product has fallen in the last few days, and we are ensuring our customers reap the benefit by passing on the saving quickly, for cheaper prices at the pumps."

Tesco and Sainsbury's say they will offer 5p a litre off fuel to customers who spend £50 or more in their stores.

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The cuts come after months in which motorists have been battered by fuel price hikes driven by increases in the cost of crude oil.

At one point earlier this month, oil prices hit record levels above $147 a barrel.

But over the last few weeks, oil prices have slipped to about $132 a barrel, resulting in a six per cent fall in the wholesale price of petrol since mid-July, according to the AA.

Ray Holloway, of the Petrol Retailers Association, said independent fuel retailers would be unlikely to respond immediately to the cuts.

He said: "The supermarkets are moving the price in anticipation of further falls in the wholesale price. Independents will pass on those falls in due course."

Motoring groups welcomed the reductions, which follow a record run of petrol pump price hikes this year, and said they hoped the trend would continue.

An AA spokesman said: "We will watch price movements like a hawk, and should fuel suppliers and retailers appear to be dragging their feet we will seek to expose this."

None of the major oil companies has yet said it will follow the supermarkets' move, although Esso and Texaco both said they were monitoring rivals' prices and would remain competitive.

The Petrol Retailers' Association is predicting that further cuts in pump prices might come early next year if crude prices stabilise around present levels.

On Peterborough Today: Petrol price map and average local prices - peterboroughtoday.co.uk/petrolprices.

Not such good news over diesel

EVEN though it's good news for owners of petrol-fuelled vehicles, ones running on diesel still face a hefty price to pay at the pump.

The cheapest service stations for diesel in Peterborough is Sainsbury's, in Oxney Road, at 129.9p per litre.

The average price is 132.9p.

However, with crude oil prices expected to continue to drop, experts predict the price should start to tumble in the coming weeks.

This doesn't seem to have affected the demand for diesel cars, as there is a growing popularity for them as they are more efficient to run and attract lower tax rates as they have lower carbon emissions.