Total fuel sales in the UK have tumbled by 9.3 per cent in the past five years, which suggests that motorists are being forced off the road by sky-high prices at the pumps.

According to the AA, forecourts are dispensing 3.5 billion fewer litres of fuel than they were in 2007, with figures provided by the Department of Energy and Climate Change indicating that 17.426 billion litres of petrol and 16.734 billion litres of diesel were purchased in 2012.

There has been an incredible amount of anger directed towards the government in recent weeks, despite the fact a planned 3p fuel duty hike has been scrapped.

Many logistics firms are still struggling to remain profitable because of excessive diesel costs and AA president Edmund King is worried that market speculators will force fuel costs to go even higher as the economy starts to recover.

"Soaring pump prices have taken a huge toll on petrol sales more recently - during the 10p-a-litre price surges last March and October, pump sales of petrol fell by up to five per cent," he remarked.