I think Beacon readers may be interested in the reply I received from Joanna at Shell UK.My letter in the Beacon 23/08/23 was passed to her because Shell, not the shop, controls the price of fuel.Since then the price of petrol l has been raised yet again by 5p to 162.9p per litre.

She confirmed that Shell is the owner of the site. she said, it might be helpful to know some of the reasons why prices can fluctuate between service stations.”These include wholesale fuel prices, the price when the retailer bulk bought their fuel and operating costs,such as transporting the fuel to forecourts and running the service stations themselves.

“Shell only controls prices at the sites we own. In the UK just over half of Shell-branded sites are owned by independent dealers,who set their own prices.Shell is prevented by law from telling dealer groups what to charge their customers for fuel.”

Readers will note that most of my questions were ignored. Joanna gives plenty of reasons why other service stations can keep their prices down, but none to explain Overmonnow’s random endless price-topping.There is certainly no understanding or interest in the damage being done to Monmouth’s economy by the incentive to shop elsewhere.

Last week, I had to make a journey through Monmouthshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire, The prices at the 21 petrol stations I passed ranged from 20p per litre cheaper than Monmouth, by far the most were at least 10p cheaper, to just two charging the same as Monmouth. None exceeded Monmouth’s

If any reader agrees with me that it seems that Shell opts to keep its exorbitant pricing, simply because they have no local competition then please write to Joanna at [email protected]. Monmouth’s economy is on a knife edge and I believe this supercilious decision could tip us over. Let her know that our small town has a voice.

Anthea Dewhurst