People are unknowingly paying upwards to £1.55 per litre for diesel and petrol at fuel pumps.

A motorist says she paid £1.55.9 for diesel despite signs saying the cost was £1.39.9.

The BP Connect Petrol station in Preston said they had run out of normal grade diesel on Saturday.

They had received a delivery on Sunday and were running low again on both petrol and diesel.

A store worker said: “The customer must have paid for the Ultimate Diesel because we run out of normal grade diesel this weekend.”

The customer said she went back to check and insists she had she had filled up using the pump marked 'normal grade diesel'.

Other customers have also spoken out after having realised they had put the wrong fuel in.

Another driver from Blackburn told us: “It is not clear when you go to put the fuel in. I pulled up at a garage and filled £5 of petrol before I realised I was being charged an extortionate amount.

“The pumps need to be more clearly labelled and are far too similar.”

Over the weekend motorists have queued at petrol stations across the country for fuel.

The panic buying spree was sparked last week after concerns from BP were leaked that the shortage of lorry drivers could impact upon its ability to keep up with fuel deliveries.

The surge in demand led the PRA to warn that as many as two thirds of its membership of nearly 5,500 independent outlets were out of fuel on Sunday, with the rest of them “partly dry and running out soon”.