The price of petrol has broken the 140p-a-litre barrier for the first time, it was announced last night.
The average price has reached 140.20p, with diesel at a record high of 146.72p, the AA said.
Petrol prices have risen more than 2.75p a litre in just three weeks, while the cost was only 132.25p at the beginning of the year. The price of diesel stood at an average of 140.56p.
The SNP and fuel campaigners turned on Chancellor George Osborne – saying he was ignoring millions of people who are struggling to keep their vehicles on the road.
Petrol and diesel were being sold for 137.9p and 144.9p respectively in Aberdeen yesterday.
However, at many stations across the north and north-east, the price surpassed the national average weeks ago.
In Banff and Buchan, prices reached 143.9p for petrol, and in Moray it topped 144.9p. In the Highlands and islands, petrol costs 145.9p in some areas, and diesel 153.9p.
In his Budget this week, Mr Osborne said the fuel duty rise planned for August, which with VAT added will amount to 3.62p a litre, would be going ahead.
The AA said this rise meant monthly petrol costs would, by August, have increased by more than £12 since the start of the year.
The SNP’s Westminster transport spokesman, Angus MacNeil, said: “David Cameron needs to stop dithering and start delivering action to bring soaring fuel prices down. It’s a national scandal that, in an oil-rich country like Scotland, we are paying the highest fuel prices in Europe.”
Quentin Willson, national spokesman for the FairFuelUK campaign group, said: “Mr Osborne could have acted to cushion the UK economy but he ignored our warnings and the desperate pleas of the tens of millions of people who can’t cope with the highest cost of petrol and diesel ever seen in this country.”