Leader: At last a ray of light for the hapless motorist

After one of the grimmest weeks for news in an already grim summer, one small chink of light has appeared: an 8 per cent fall in the price of oil. Judging by the growing desperation of motorists, any fall in the price cannot come through quickly enough to the petrol station forecourts.

Faced with the average price of a litre of petrol soaring to 136p, drivers have been pushing their petrol tanks to the limit, hoping that somehow - rather like the economy overall - they can run on empty.

The AA reports an increasing number of breakdowns on motorways, with the figure now averaging 446 a week. Such is the pressure caused by the prices at motorway service stations, it seems motorists are prepared to risk driving with the fuel gauge on or past the emergency mark to reach a cut-price garage.

This can prove a false economy if the car runs out of fuel and motorists are forced to abandon their cars and embark on long hikes to the next available petrol pump.

Indicative of how common this is now becoming are figures from Halfords showing a 56 per cent surge in sales of fuel cans, compared with six months ago. Its survey also reveals that 30 is still the average spend at the pumps, even though fuel prices have risen 16 per cent.

For many rural areas, particularly in Scotland, the problem is acute. The average price across the UK may be 136p for a litre of unleaded petrol. But some motorists find themselves having to pay as much as 149.9p. These higher prices tend to be charged in remote areas and also motorway service stations, where motorists see little sign of competitive pressures bearing down on the price.

In Scotland's Highland communities, car transport is vital for daily life for farmers and households. The closure of a large number of independent petrol stations, particularly in rural areas, has compounded the problem, leaving drivers without easy access to somewhere where they can fill up. Indeed, in many parts of the country independent petrol stations have become few and far between.

The petrol crunch is a vivid indication of the growing pressures on motorists and how millions are being caught between the inflation in commodities markets and the shrinking of real incomes.

This triumph of hope over experience by desperate motorists can be seen as a metaphor for western world economies as a whole. The huge pile of debt taken on at the height of the banking crisis is now showing through in sharp rises in government debt interest. This, together with inflation, is squeezing the revenue available for public spending programmes and forcing cuts.

Thus it is that it is not just hapless motorists, but entire economies, that now find themselves struggling to make the same number of journeys with less petrol in the tank. Price cuts at the pump should not be delayed.