Diesel prices exceed £2 a litre at hundreds of forecourts across Scotland

Analysis by BBC Scotland News suggests there are at least 226 sites - stretching from the Borders to Shetland - where the price of a litre of diesel is greater than £2.

Some of the highest prices are in island and rural areas, including 238.8p and 223p in the Hebrides and 209.0p and 208.9p in the Northern Isles.

South Uist-based haulier Norman MacAskill said it cost 32p a litre to fill a lorry's tank when he started in the haulage business 40 years ago, but it was now £2.22.

"Anyone who is running a lorry is absolutely devastated when they get their fuel bill at the end of the month. There's no business on earth that can withstand that increase in costs," he said.

MacAskill's haulage firm, N D MacAskill & Son, transports livestock around Inverness, Dingwall and Stirling but also further afield.

"We do a bit of livestock haulage from the north of Scotland down to the north of England," he said.

"It's a devastating cost on a fuel run on that job," he said.

MacAskill added: "This has been going on every year for the last 10 years now. The cost of running a haulage business has just gone over the top.

"There are dozens of haulage firms that have been established 50-60 years with big numbers of lorries going to the wall. When is this going to stop?"

Dave Neil, who runs Sinclair Haulage which serves Sanday, Stronsay and Eday in Orkney, said his business was spending £400 a week more on diesel than it was before the summer.

"It's a challenging situation," he said.

Neil said he was forced to add an extra fee to his customers' costs.

"It's probably the fairest way," he said. "When the fuel price drops we can take that surcharge away."

The AA said its campaigning had persuaded the UK government to set up pump-price transparency.

It said there were now websites and phone apps, external drivers could use to check for the latest pump prices and where to find cheaper fuel.

The AA said there should be no scrapping of the Treasury's 5p cut in fuel duty, which was first introduced in March 2022. It added that there was a "good argument" for diesel getting further relief.

A spokesperson said: "While many big businesses pass the extra cost of diesel onto their customers, often via a sliding scale of fuel surcharges, smaller businesses don't automatically.

"These include taxi drivers, craftspeople, domestic repairs, vets, farriers and many who rely on vehicles to look after their customers."

The UK government said it had extended the temporary fuel duty cut, external until 31 December.

A spokesperson said: "Since the outset of the war in Iran, this government continues to protect the British people and businesses from this crisis.

"This means drivers benefit from the extension of the 5p fuel duty cut, with diesel 11p per litre cheaper until the end of the year than it would have been compared to plans inherited from the previous government."