The average price of a litre of petrol on Monday settled at 139.46p, the highest price seen since March 2013 and less than 3p below the record of 142.17p in April 2012.
The RAC has said that recent panic buying has not been a contributing factor to the high prices.
The average price per litre of diesel on Monday was up to143.19p, a rise of more than 2.5p from a week earlier.
According to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, prices have risen by more than 26p per litre in the past 12 months, adding £14 to the cost of filling up a typical 55-litre family car.
The RAC did say, however, that rising petrol prices were the result of several factors including the increase in the cost of oil, September’s switch to E10 petrol and the impact of VAT.