The motoring association, speaking after the price of diesel fell below the price of petrol for the first time in 15 years, said the UK doesn’t have “the fuel price transparency that is normal in Australia, South-East Asia and across the USA”.

A spokesperson for the group said fuel providers had been over-charging for diesel since April.

The group has suggested the “more realistic pricing” could have arrived sooner if the fuel industry had to show the wholesale cost alongside pump prices.

Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, said the wholesale price of diesel fell below that of petrol back in the middle of May and the drop in price “could have come weeks ago”.

A spokesperson for the AA said: “The ordinary diesel driver has been blind to this over-charging simply because there isn’t the fuel price transparency that is normal in Australia, South East Asia and across the USA.

“It is time the Government resurrected the 2012 attempt to get the fuel industry to show the track of oil price compared to wholesale cost versus pump price, taking into account the exchange rate. In short, a fair price.”