FILLING your tank in North Yorkshire is set to cost £65 more per year with the latest round of fuel increases.

New figures suggest that the price of a full tank of petrol has risen by £1.30 in the last six months, putting up the cost for a typical motorist filling their car once a week to about £65 over the year.

Knaresborough has the cheapest pumps in North Yorkshire, where the average price of unleaded petrol is 77.7p per litre.

Malton is the most expensive, with fuel averaging 82.1p per litre.

In York, unleaded fuel averages 79.5p per litre, with diesel at 80.3p.

Julie Hammond, manager of Hull Road Service Station, in York, said the station's unleaded petrol rose by 1p last week, to 80.9p.

"It's out of my control," she said. "It affects my businesses when prices go up because the supermarkets are cheaper. We do well, but we don't do as well as we could do."

Jenny Raper, manager of London Bridge Service Station, in Tadcaster Road, York, said her unleaded had gone up by 1p, to 79.9p.

She said: "People definitely notice the difference. We have a slump for a couple of days, then they gradually start to come back again."

Teresa Maynard, of Castle Fuel Cards, said motorists in North Yorkshire typically paid more than drivers in the rest of the UK for petrol.

"Businesses and private motorists can expect the price of petrol and diesel to keep rising," she said. "World oil supply remains tight and another tax increase on fuel will be imposed at the end of the summer."

Ray Holloway, independent garage and fuel director for the Retail Motor Industry Federation (RMI), said retailers were not to blame for the price rise.

"The local forecourt is at the end of a very long chain," said Mr Holloway.

"Petrol retailers do not have the kind of influence that can halt an increase in the price of crude oil.

"However, oil producers and international oil companies do have the ability to try and influence prices, although even they cannot fully control it."

Updated: 09:26 Saturday, May 08, 2004