Asda has kicked off a new price war by slashing fuel prices – and claiming motorists are being “ripped off” at the pumps. The supermarket announced yesterday that it was lowering the cost of a litre of unleaded to 90.9p, its 10th

consecutive cut in petrol prices since July. It also reduced the price of diesel to 105.9p per litre.

Asda said the prices would be effective across all its 172 forecourts from yesterday morning, adding that the move made it the lowest that petrol prices had been since April 2007.

Meanwhile, Sainsbury’s said it would match Asda’s cuts for the majority of customers. A Sainsbury’s spokeswoman said the supermarket had dropped all its forecourt prices this morning, matching Asda in those areas where it employed a price matching policy with the rival supermarket.

Tesco was also reported to be matching the price cuts.

Asda’s trading director Darren Blackhurst said: “With oil prices still falling, there is no need for petrol prices to be so high – it is simply ripping off motorists.

“Asda is committed to delivering the best and fairest prices for our customers and our continual price cuts prove that. Others should be following our lead.”

The company added that the gap between diesel and petrol was not expected to reduce in the near future.

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