AGP Executive Report

Diesel pain at the pumps: RAC says UK diesel has hit a record 199.18p a litre, pushing a 55-litre fill to about £110—around £31 more than before the Iran war began, with experts warning costs will ripple into everyday prices. Fuel-supply fears: Reports of “diesel rationing” plans (including possible 50mph limits and priority filling) are being discussed as stocks tighten, though officials say there’s no immediate risk to supplies. Consumer cash boost for drivers: The Competition Appeal Tribunal has approved a £55.87m payout for people and businesses that bought or leased new cars and vans between 2006 and 2015, following an EU price-fixing fine—claims are expected to start soon. Retail and convenience moves: Musgrave’s SuperValu and Centra stores in Northern Ireland expand rapid grocery delivery via Just Eat and Uber Eats. Tech and shopping: Evri begins using two-legged delivery robots in Barnsley that can carry up to 15kg and even climb stairs. Food and drink: Boots launches a £35 NARS beauty set worth £77.90, while Diageo workers at Scotland’s Cameronbridge distillery strike over job cuts. New products: Gene-edited bananas that don’t brown as fast are edging closer to UK supermarkets after UK approval steps.

Rail shake-up: Avanti West Coast is set to be brought into public ownership from March next year, with the government citing cancellations, delays and high fares. Energy bills (local): Gateshead Council tenants on its high-rise heating scheme face a new £25 annual standing charge from November 1, plus tariff rises for specific blocks. Solar trust issue: A UK homeowner says their MCS certificate listed pricier Aiko panels, but roof serial numbers suggest cheaper Jinko modules—sparking questions about certification and what was actually installed. Social media safety: Channel 4 research finds most UK teens want safer social media, not a full ban, backing targeted limits like bots and abusive language. Tech for consumers: Meta unveiled new smart/VR glasses, including a camera-free audio version, aiming at everyday productivity. Payments & connectivity: 1001SMS relaunched with one platform for virtual numbers, temporary numbers and eSIM data for travel and marketing. Consumer finance: HMRC is set to refund state pensioners £19m after overpaid tax. Retail/consumer deals: Argos shoppers can reportedly grab 70 Nintendo Switch games for 7p each in a deal stack.

Energy Bills Shock: Ofgem’s price cap rises about 4% from Thursday, pushing a typical direct-debit bill to £1,723, and Uswitch warns households without smart meters to submit readings before Oct 1 to avoid higher charges. Diesel Pressure on Prices: A UK refining shortage is driving diesel toward £2 a litre, with drivers and small businesses warning costs are feeding straight into the price of everyday goods. Banking Access Hit: Lloyds and Halifax are set to close 26 branches in October, underlining how more customers are being pushed online. ISA Warning: Skipton analysis flags many Cash ISA savers stuck on low rates—an average older instant-access ISA could be earning about £185 a year less than it should. Scam Alert: Royal Mail warns of a £2.99 “shipping fee” phishing text—don’t click links; report scams to reportascam@royalmail.com. Food on the Shelf: Gene-edited bananas that resist browning are cleared for sale in England, aiming to cut waste and extend shelf life. Retail Bargains: Argos is stacking deals on Nintendo Switch games, with shoppers able to grab up to 70 titles for under £5 each.

Travel & Transport: Holyhead–Dublin ferry rules tighten from Sept 28: passengers must show a passport (no other ID accepted), and from Oct 1 Holyhead Port stops taking cash, switching to card payments only. Energy Bills: Ofgem’s energy price cap rises 4% from Thursday, lifting a typical bill to £1,723; Uswitch urges non-smart-meter households to submit readings by month-end to avoid higher charges. Household Safety & Recalls: OPSS recalls include Asda bags over excess phthalates, plus fresh supermarket recall alerts covering items like oat drinks and chocolates—check best-before dates and return for refunds. Money & Mortgages: Five-year fixed rates hit 5.91%, with 750,000 borrowers facing a “huge shock” as deals reprice. Retail & Jobs: M&S shuts its Walton-on-the-Naze Foodhall for good (about 50 jobs at risk). Food & Shopping: Tesco expands rapid delivery via Deliveroo nationwide in as little as 20 minutes, while shoppers’ plant-based trends shift toward beans/tofu as “fake meat” sales soften. Consumer Tech/Banking: Barclays plans new branches and longer hours; separate reports warn some Capital One cardholders may face overseas declines after a network shift.

Banking shake-up: Monzo, with 16m customers, is in “serious” talks to be sold to Nubank in a deal potentially worth up to £10bn, or it could pursue a new funding round—either way, customers could see changes to accounts and features. Energy help: British Gas Energy Trust’s Energy Support Grant opens 1 October, offering up to £1,700 for eligible households in debt (including customers of OVO, EDF, Octopus and others, via their supplier’s support fund first). Household costs: Nationwide is offering a £75 M&S or Amazon gift card when customers arrange life insurance online with L&G. Consumer finance tech: UK banks including Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, Monzo, Nationwide, NatWest and Santander have completed the first live tokenised sterling deposit payments on shared infrastructure. Car affordability rules: EU “Made in Europe” rules could force 70% sourcing from the bloc, raising costs for UK drivers. Retail & deals: Argos cuts the LEGO Icons Lord of the Rings Sauron Helmet from £65 to £50 (and lower via cashback sign-ups). Local services: Transport for Wales pauses new class 398 tram-trains due to software “teething issues,” delaying full rollout. Food & community: An Essex chippy, The Hook of Halstead, makes the National Fish & Chip Awards longlist.

Consumer Safety Alerts: Sainsbury’s, Waitrose and Tesco issued urgent “do not eat” recalls, including Waitrose Essential Unsweetened Oat Drink over temperature-control spoilage risk, plus other contaminated food items and more across drinks, chocolates and toys—check retailer recall pages and return for refunds. Romance Scams: Lloyds reports romance scam reports rose 24% overall year-on-year, with the biggest jump among 18–24s (+59%), while older victims still lose the most money. Retail Pressure: The CBI says UK retailers cut supplier orders at the fastest pace in over 40 years, with online sales contracting sharply as confidence weakens. Energy & Transport Costs: Diesel has topped £2 a litre at hundreds of Scottish forecourts, hitting hauliers hard, while warnings grow that the UK is “one shock away” from an energy crisis. Payments & Tech at the Till: Revolut trialled a UK “Pay with Smile” facial recognition checkout in London, and AI is moving into money management—raising new consumer privacy questions. Local Business Wins: A Kidderminster voice supplement developer won a UK Nourish award, while pubs and theatre groups in Swindon and Falmouth-area venues picked up national recognition.

Charity Retail Closures: The British Heart Foundation plans to close 150 shops by March 2028, including two County Durham stores, after reporting a £3.3m net retail loss and warning returns are “not sustainable” amid rising costs and changing customer habits. Broadband Boost: Sky says it’s rolling out its fastest full-fibre packages, with 1.6Gbps available to 79% of UK homes (and up to 5Gbps for 14%), via Openreach and CityFibre where available. Consumer Confidence & Spending: Retail sales worsened in September as confidence dipped and costs stayed high, with retailers cutting order volumes at the fastest pace on record, according to the CBI. Mortgage Pressure: Barclays and NatWest have raised some fixed-rate mortgage deals, adding to a “dark week” for borrowers as rate rises spread across the market. Banking Outage: Santander customers reported app and online banking outages, leaving some unable to log in or make payments while the bank apologised and worked to restore services. Diesel Near Record: RAC data puts diesel at 198.32p a litre, close to the 2022 record, with prices driven by global oil supply pressures. Illegal Vapes Crackdown: Wales councils boarded up four vape shops after raids found hidden storage and illegal tobacco/vapes, including sales linked to children. EV Choice Grows: The AA says EV readiness is up (60/100) as EV sales near one in three new cars, with Chinese brands expanding options. EU-UK Car Tariffs: The EU is urging the UK to raise tariffs on Chinese EVs to avoid “Made in Europe” export barriers and prevent the UK becoming a backdoor route. Food & Drink: Aldi has started fresh produce handling at its £500m automated Bardon warehouse, while CAMRA’s Good Beer Guide adds thousands of pubs, including venues in Rutland and Lincolnshire. Home Deals: Dunelm is advertising a discounted sofa bed for Christmas hosting, cutting the price from £419 to £335.20.

Reusable moving crates: A new UK start-up, Crate Crew, is renting reusable moving crates around Swindon and Oxfordshire to cut waste and make moving easier. Royal Mail Christmas hiring: Royal Mail will recruit 146 seasonal staff in Peterborough (from late October to early January) to handle the festive postal rush. Food price pressure: Scientists warn several staple foods could get pricier this winter as drought, heatwaves and global fuel/fertiliser costs squeeze supplies. Consumer confidence: GfK says UK consumer confidence hit a more than two-year high in September, though it’s still negative overall. Retail and household costs: One shopper tip going viral: Tesco’s 62p 500ml washing-up liquid is a go-to “cupboard staple” even for M&S and Sainsbury’s fans. Tech support shift: Virgin Media O2 is rolling out an AI voice agent to speed up selected broadband fault calls, with humans still available for complex issues. Data breach alert: Stake says a third-party partner hack exposed customers’ personal details, but no trading or bank data was affected. Food exports slump: UK food exports fell sharply in the first half of the year, with US tariffs blamed for hits to salmon and other products.

Fresh Food Logistics: Aldi has started handling fruit and vegetables at its Bardon automated distribution centre in Leicestershire, with ginger and avocados among the first deliveries, as the £500m-plus site ramps up to move 1.5m kg of produce daily by 2027. Consumer Safety Recall: Make Believe Ideas has recalled the Groovy Baby “I Spy a Fly” board book sold at Aldi and TK Maxx over a choking risk if the fly wings detach; refunds are available if customers follow disposal instructions. Banking & Regulation: The FCA and Bank of England have published next steps on tokenisation, including a feedback statement on tokenised wholesale markets and a call for input on tokenised gold. Charity Retail Pressure: The British Heart Foundation posted a £3.3m net retail loss and plans to close 150 charity shops by March 2028 as costs rise and shopping habits shift. Retail Convenience: Tesco is rolling out nationwide rapid grocery delivery on Deliveroo, with slots from 7am-10pm and orders promised in as little as 20 minutes. Travel Deals: easyJet announced 18 new summer 2027 routes, including Girona for the first time from the UK. Legal Compensation: A UK motorists’ and businesses’ class action over inflated car shipping fees has settled for £55.87m, with payouts starting from £25 per vehicle. Home & Lifestyle: Lidl’s Special Buys includes a £19.99 Livarno side table with a removable lid and 28-litre storage.

Retail & delivery convenience: Tesco is rolling out nationwide on Deliveroo after a trial at 147 stores, promising deliveries in as little as 20 minutes and pushing Clubcard Prices and points. Food & drink buzz: Toblerone launches Biscoff-filled Diamond Truffles across European and Asian retail, including a Costco-only 495g box. High-street openings: Aldi opens a new Sudbury store on Oct 1, with a ParalympicGB gold medallist cutting the ribbon and fruit/veg giveaways for early customers. Consumer tech & privacy: Meta’s new camera-free Ray-Ban Audio smart glasses go on sale in the UK/Europe next month, aiming to reduce privacy worries while adding AI-driven shopping via its Muse system. Competition & search choice: The CMA is consulting on rules that could let eligible AI assistants appear on Google’s search choice screens, but they won’t be automatic. Energy & jobs pressure: GMB warns after Ineos mothballs three Hull chemical plants over high gas costs, putting around 1,000 jobs at risk. Economy watch: The OECD predicts UK growth will slow next year, with inflation easing but taking longer to hit target. Local consumer culture: Asda Money’s poll crowns “Shitterton” among the UK’s rudest place names, with many drivers admitting they’ve lost focus or missed turns due to funny signs.

Retail & value: Iceland is rolling out an AI “WasteInsight” system to monitor frozen stock and auto-calculate yellow-sticker discounts, aiming to cut waste and free staff time. Cyber & consumer risk: Revolut says a data breach exposed personal and financial documents after fake “government” email requests; meanwhile Microsoft and UK police helped disrupt the EvilTokens AI phishing service, with arrests and seized sites. Shopping tech & trust: Research suggests nearly half of UK adults would use AI agents to shop, but consumers still want safeguards around spending decisions. Supermarkets & convenience: Tesco expands rapid delivery via Deliveroo nationwide after a 147-store trial, while Asda partners with InPost to add parcel lockers to up to 700 stores and is changing deliveries/returns in the same rollout. Food & festive buys: M&S reveals its £75 Beauty Advent Calendar (26 products, £385+ savings) and Starbucks launches a £24.95 Bearista advent calendar in UK stores from 5 Nov. Household bills: Thames Water extends its hosepipe ban into autumn as reservoirs remain depleted.

Water & Bills Help: Wessex Water is running a drop-in advice session at Portland Library, Easton (10am–1pm, Tue 29 Sept) to answer questions on bills, water saving, blockages, and water quality—no booking needed. Local Charity Spotlight: Bradford steakhouse Arome has raised £30,449 since Jan 2024 through monthly charity days, donating all earnings to humanitarian projects including building homes and delivering food aid. Food & Sustainability: More than 120 chefs have signed an open letter pledging to stop serving ocean-farmed salmon unless it can be produced without unacceptable harm to wild salmon and marine ecosystems; the letter runs in the UK and other countries. Consumer Rights & Data: Debenhams’ shift to third-party online selling is drawing ICO scrutiny after complaints about difficulty cancelling mailings and concerns over complex data handling. Watchdog Ruling on Branding: A Southampton car dealer, Jap Car South, has been forced to apologise after the ASA said its name is likely to cause serious racial offence. Mobile Upgrade: O2 has switched on 5G+ across parts of the North East, including Newcastle and Tyneside, with faster speeds and lower latency at no extra cost. Energy Pressure on Industry: INEOS is mothballing three Hull chemical plants due to soaring UK gas prices, putting thousands of jobs and key supply chains at risk. Peat-Free Push: The National Trust says its entire plant retail supply chain is now 100% peat-free, while urging the Government to bring forward peat legislation. Illegal E-bike Crackdown: UK officials warn that Amazon listings for e-bike conversion kits can enable illegal high-speed bikes, which are linked to thefts, muggings and crashes.

Sun Safety & Skincare: A 36-year-old skin-cancer survivor has launched Airyday’s “SPF Wardrobe”, with SPF50+ options for different finishes and skin tones, including a £39 Golden Glow Dreamscreen. Travel Tech & Personalisation: Jet2 is partnering with Adobe to use agentic AI to tailor holiday recommendations and daily itineraries for its myJet2 customers. Consumer Tech Budget Win: Sekonda’s new smart ring lands at £79.99 with no subscription, tracking sleep, heart rate, blood oxygen, stress and cycle data. Fuel Costs Hit Drivers: RAC analysis says petrol is up about 40p a litre since February, pushing the cost of a full tank to roughly £95 for petrol and £107 for diesel. Retail Convenience: Asda and InPost will install up to 700 parcel lockers across stores, aiming to boost out-of-home deliveries. Aviation Disruption Watch: Transport & Environment warns Heathrow expansion could breach carbon limits, while UK air travel has faced repeated air-traffic control problems. Health & Home Support: Waiting times for housing adaptations in Rhondda Cynon Taf are still around nine months, despite recent improvements. Food & Value: Tesco has launched a Clubcard Cadbury sale with many 100g bags at 95p, ending Sept 28. Consumer Advice Access: Northern Ireland’s Consumer Council says shame and not knowing where to go are stopping people seeking debt help.

Aviation disruption: A second air traffic control incident in two weeks has delayed flights across Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern England, with airlines including Ryanair, EasyJet and Jet2 demanding action and questioning Nats’ resilience after Monday’s fault was said to be unrelated to the Sept 8 software problem that cancelled 2,000+ flights. Energy bills: A new IFS/LSE report argues UK households could cut electricity costs if time-varying tariffs became the default, pointing to times when wind power is “effectively free” and the grid pays turbines to switch off. Food & consumer standards: In Peterborough, 11 eateries received one-star-or-lower food hygiene ratings, including two zero-star venues needing urgent improvement. UK manufacturing investment: Econ Engineering in Ripon has installed a £1.1m laser cutting system to expand in-house capacity. Business competition watch: The CMA has opened a Phase 1 probe into McCormick’s proposed $65bn merger with Unilever’s food business, with a decision due 11 Nov 2026. Retail/brand news: Vodafone is offering £100 bill credit to new SIM-only customers. Health & youth: Wales data shows weekly vaping among secondary school pupils has fallen to 5.2%, down from 7% in 2023.

Air Travel Disruption: NATS blamed a connectivity issue at its Prestwick centre for delays and cancellations across Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern England, with airlines like Ryanair and easyJet demanding accountability after another repeat outage. Energy Bills: Eon Next cut two 24-month fixed tariffs to under the October price cap, while HMRC also outlined four changes aimed at tackling repayment-claim delays and wider case backlogs. Tax-Free Shopping Push: Conservative plans to restore VAT refunds for overseas visitors could boost spending and jobs, as UK high streets try to win back Gulf shoppers. HMRC Customer Service: Complaints over error-and-delay cases rose 66% year-on-year, prompting calls for faster resolution. Retail & Consumer Deals: Argos shoppers can grab a LEGO Botanicals Flowering Cactus for £1.35 via TopCashback (new customers). High Street Moves: Holland & Barrett is closing its Bishop Auckland store, while Rituals has planning applications for a new Beverley shopfront. Household Pressure (NI): Northern Ireland shoppers made fewer supermarket trips as grocery inflation hit 12.33%, with promotions doing most of the heavy lifting. New Vape Rules: From Oct 1, travellers can bring back only 50ml of vape liquid without paying duty/tax, or risk confiscation. Tech/Manufacturing: XYZO launched a hybrid manufacturing system combining multiple 3D printing methods with precision machining and post-processing.

Consumer Rights: Shoppers told they can’t get a cash refund are reminded that, under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, retailers can’t swap a legal monetary refund for store credit or a voucher just because it suits their policy. Scams & Online Shopping: New research says 1 in 3 UK consumers are abandoning online purchases due to scam fears, with fake texts and phone calls from “real” companies the most common tricks. Tourism & Retail: Kemi Badenoch pledges to bring back tax-free shopping for tourists, arguing the 2021 VAT refund scrapping made the UK less competitive and hit visitor spending. Household Costs: Families are warned to check state pension details after a September 15–18 window, while separate coverage flags energy bill changes that could hit millions. Local Business Growth: Northern Ireland’s Boatyard Distillery is set to boost output five-fold after a £2m investment. Tech & Connectivity: Zen Internet’s broadband pricing explainer highlights how wholesale line costs are only part of what drives what customers pay. Food & Health: A study claims many people can’t tell yeast-derived cocoa butter substitutes from real cocoa butter, and SPF advice stresses UVA protection still matters in autumn.