The price of petrol and diesel at the pumps has reached record levels, with a reduction in the European market cost of fuel not being passed on to UK consumers, the AA has said.
Average petrol prices have reached an all-time high of 128.81p a litre - up 0.54p a litre from mid-January - while diesel has hit a new record of 134.01p a litre, up 1.26p since mid-January.
It added that if a 2p drop in the market cost of petrol had been passed on to UK consumers, it would have wiped out most of the impact of the 2.5p VAT rise in early January 4.
The AA said European petrol prices did go down in line with a dip in north-west Europe wholesale costs of petrol.
It added that even with wholesale prices regaining value in February, the European average petrol pump price on February 7 was still 3% lower than three weeks before, while in the UK, petrol cost 0.8% more and reached new record highs.
Northern Ireland has the most expensive UK petrol (129.9p a litre) and diesel (135p), while drivers in Yorkshire and Humberside enjoying the cheapest prices as petrol averages 127.8p a litre and diesel 133.2p.
The AA said supermarket fuel prices varied by up to 4p a litre, with costs something of a "postcode lottery".
AA president Edmund King said: "With record fuel prices a key influence on rising inflation, the AA again calls for a published track of wholesale versus pump prices, as is available in the US, Australia and South East Asia.
"It is time that the retailers recognised that greater price transparency will protect their interests, the consumers' and the Government's.
"As well as the scrapping of the fuel duty increase on April 1, the AA calls for a fuel price regulator, as is available with domestic energy - not to tell retailers how much they should sell their fuel for but as an honest broker between markets, retailers and consumers to help clarify price movements and price differences between neighbouring towns."
