A survey of petrol prices across the country has found that drivers in the most expensive region pay around £250 more each year to fill up their cars than those in the cheapest area.

The most expensive place to buy petrol is the Shetland Isles at 145.9 pence per litre (ppl). It does seem slightly unfair that the area closest to the oilfields of the North Sea has to pay the highest prices, but it is also one of the most remote places in the UK. The cheapest place is Grampian, in Scotland, at 129.7 ppl.

Outside Scotland, the most expensive region was Humberside where prices average 137.9 ppl, and the cheapest was Denbighshire, Wales – where prices average 130.9 ppl.

Slightly surprisingly, London had one of the cheapest average prices at 131.8 ppl – surprising because the cost of land for the petrol station will be the highest in the country. That is possibly why, apart from supermarkets, it is getting hard to find a petrol station in central London. Other regional prices were 131.8 ppl (South Yorkshire); 132.3 ppl (West Midlands); 132.7 (Oxfordshire) and 132.7 ppl (Devon).

Alan Mathewson, Chief Executive of Santander Cards, said: “These seemingly small variations in fuel prices across the UK can actually have a significant impact on overall spending, particularly for drivers who really clock up the miles.”

Incidentally, the picture shows a Leicestershire petrol station that has just been granted Grade II listed status (so that one won’t be knocked down, at least). It was designed by U.S. architect Eliot Noyes in the 1960s and is the last remaining one of its kind in the UK.