by Jo Earle

The cost of fuel in Kent is still frustrating motorists as prices remain above £1 per litre - despite the cost of crude oil continuing to fall to around $70 per barrel.

Drivers in Hothfield, near Ashford are forking out the county's highest prices - with a litre of unleaded coming in at £1.04.

But in Strood, gas guzzlers can be filled up for under a quid a litre.

According to the AA in June the average petrol price in the UK rose by 4.98p per litre to 102.66p, because of the price hike in international crude oil.

Despite many supermarkets such as ASDA now lowering their prices to 99p many garage forecourts are on average in our county are £1.02.

The Freight Transport Association says the cost of petrol impacts business trying to work in Kent, who rely heavily on fuel to run their business.

Jo Tanner from the Freight Transport Association said:

"Basically it is speculators in the market who are stock-piling and therefore diminishing the amount of oil that’s out there and that's basically pushing the prices up and those prices are being passed onto FTA members"

“We’ve already seen the impact the high fuel prices can have and that’s basically impacted by the level of tax and fuel duty that the government imposes.

"It's ironic that price of oil is relatively low compared to the highs of last year, where we were seeing extraordinary prices for barrels of oil.

"You can't drive a truck on empty and while they recognise that fuel is a significant part of their cost it's very difficult to budget from one month to the next"

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Find out how much you can pay in your area by logging onto petrolprices.com

Here’s a low down of the cheapest fuel prices in your area:

ROCHESTER:

Morrisons Strood Rochester 101.9p

Gibraltar Service Station Chatham 101.9p

ASHFORD:

Willesborough & Kennington Garage Ashford 102.6p

Shell Ashford Ashford 102.9p

STROOD:

Shell Ham Hill Snodland 99.9p

Sainsburys Larkfield Aylesford 99.9p

MAIDSTONE:

Maidstone Express Maidstone 100.9p

Tesco Maidstone Grove Green Maidstone 101.9p

DOVER:

Tesco Dover Extra Dover 3.63 miles 102.9p

Buckland Mill Service Station Dover 102.9p

TENTERDEN:

Tcs St Michaels Tenterden 103.9p

C B Motors Tenterden 103.9p

BROADSTAIRS:

Richborough Service Station Sandwich 102.8p

Broadway Garage Broadstairs 102.9p

GILLINGHAM

Shell Gillingham Gillingham 101.9p

Tcs Chatham Chatham 101.9p

RAMSGATE

Richborough Service Station Sandwich 102.8p

St Lawrence Service Station Ramsgate 102.9p