The Road Haulage Association has said it is ‘disappointed’ at the refusal by the Office of Fair Trading to consider an investigation into the issue of UK oil pricing.

Such was the strength of feeling over high fuel prices that over 32,000 signatories, including FFUK supporters, members of the public and members of Parliament, added their names to the petition that was handed in to the offices of the OFT on Monday, July 15. 

RHA Chief Executive Geoff Dunning said: “This petition was the culmination of a tremendous amount of hard work and was signed by over 32,000 people, all united in their aim of putting pressure on the OFT to carry out a full, frank and transparent inquiry into oil pricing.

“We were notified within an hour of delivering the petition that, as far as the OFT was concerned, the request for an investigation would be refused. In what was obviously a pre-prepared statement they stated that while accepting that the price of petrol and diesel is a ‘subject of significant public concern’, they still claim not to have received any claims of price manipulation.

The statement from the OFT stated: “The OFT has been liaising closely with the European Commission but cannot take civil enforcement action in relation to the same matters as the Commission.’

“It is a great pity that the OFT’s response to the issue of price fixing could not be as positive as their response to our petition”, Geoff Dunning concluded. “It would appear that we will now have to wait and hope for a more positive outcome from the European Commission who have at least acknowledged that this is an issue worthy of investigation”.