57% of what you pay at the pump is tax. Including tax on the tax. Enter your postcode to see what that means for your area.
Average petrol price by local authority, from 7,575 stations across the UK.
Fuel duty is 52.95p per litre. Then the government charges 20% VAT on top of that — adding another 10.59p per litre of pure tax-on-tax. That means - of the pump price is the government charging you VAT on its own tax. No other product works like this.
From 1 September 2026, fuel duty rises by 1p. Then 2p more in December. Then 2p more in March 2027. By spring 2027 you'll pay 57.95p duty + 11.59p VAT-on-duty = 69.54p in tax per litre — before the fuel itself costs a penny.
The UK's road network, fuel infrastructure and congestion planning is built for 58.6 million people — the ONS official count. But water companies plan for 62.3 million. The GP register shows 63.7 million. That's potentially 5 million extra drivers on roads not built for them.
DfT data shows the average UK driver spends 115 hours per year in congestion. An idling engine burns roughly 1.5 litres/hour. That's 172 litres wasted sitting in traffic — at today's prices, - per year in fuel you burned going nowhere.
Fuel prices: Live station prices from GOV.UK Fuel Finder API (7,575 stations). Aggregated by local authority. National average from all stations. Prices update within 30 minutes of change at source.
Tax breakdown: Fuel duty rate from HMRC (52.95p/litre from 23 March 2022, extended to 31 Aug 2026). VAT at 20% applied to duty + base fuel cost.
MP vote: Commons division 452, 18 March 2026 — opposition day motion on fuel duty. Data from commonsvotes-api.parliament.uk. "For duty rise" = voted with the government (No lobby). "Against duty rise" = voted for the opposition motion (Aye lobby).
Earnings: ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) 2024, median gross annual pay by local authority. Hourly rate = annual / 52 / 37.5.
Car dependency: ONS Census 2021 table TS061 — method of travel to work by local authority. Shows % who drive a car or van to work.
Council tax: DLUHC council tax levels 2026-27, Band D. For shire districts, only the district precept is shown.
Squeeze ranking: Composite score: (national pay / area pay) x (area car % / national car %) x (area fuel price / national fuel price). Higher = more squeezed. 288 areas ranked.
Annual fuel tax: Based on user-input weekly mileage, average fuel consumption of 36.7 mpg (BEIS transport energy data), and current duty + VAT rates.
Congestion cost: DfT National Travel Survey average congestion hours. Idle fuel consumption from RAC Foundation.
Ghost population: GBTT Ghost Population research — WRMP24, GP register, ONS mid-year estimates. See gbtt-2026.netlify.app for full methodology.