The Westcountry has the highest diesel prices in the country, a new report has revealed.
According to figures from the AA, the region now has an average price of 114.8p a litre, up 5.3p from February.
The UK average for diesel in March was 114.25p, a rise of nearly 6p from the previous month.
The region's petrol prices have also jumped this month. AA’s report shows that a litre of petrol in the South West now costs a whopping 106.9p, compared with the UK average of 106.76p.
And the AA report warns that fuel prices will rocket still further.
"With the price of oil now established well above the $100-a-barrel mark, UK fuel prices will continue rising to new records going into the spring," the report said.
"Despite some welcome relief from the Chancellor's decision to defer a two-pence rise in fuel duty, a two-car owning family is still spending nearly £37 more on petrol than it did this time last year."
The rapid surge in fuel prices has hit the region's cash-strapped farmers and haulage businesses hard.
Robin Harris, of St Austell-based Macsalvors Plant Hire Ltd, told the Western Morning News: "These price increases definitely affect us in a hell of a way. We have had to put up our prices.
"We have lost quite a lot of customers, about 20 per cent. They are just not prepared to pay the extra cost."
Across the Westcountry, motorists in Exeter have seen the largest rises in diesel and petrol costs at 115.5p a litre and 107.6p respectively.
Plymouth motorists pay 114.5p for diesel and 105.4p for petrol, while in Barnstaple the prices stand at 117.5p for diesel and 108.4p for petrol.
The situation is also bad in Cornwall. The price surge has seen Redruth’s average pushed to 114.1p a litre for diesel and 106.8p for petrol.
In Bodmin, meanwhile, expect to pay 114.3p for diesel and 106.5p for petrol.
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