Businesses and workers in south-west England say they are feeling the effect as petrol and diesel prices continue to rise as a result of the war in the Middle East.

Gregory Distribution, a haulage firm based in Cullompton, said it had already felt the short term impact, but it was more concerned the long term effect would be a rise in inflation and reduction in demand.

Meanwhile a worker who relies on fuel to drive to work, said she was also feeling the affect of the sudden price increase.

Christina Hill, a social carer for Devon Home Care Ltd, said she received a mileage payment from her employer which had not been increased so she was absorbing the extra cost herself.

Angela Butler, managing director of Gregory Distribution, which operates across Devon, Cornwall and beyond, said the increased costs had to be passed on to customers.

"They will want to recover that from their's," she said. "That will have an inflationary impact and potentially impact consumer demand."

"And if consumer demand drops off or stays as muted as it has been, say for the last 18 months, then we are going to find that we're not moving as much around and that will have a long term impact," she added.

Butler said the firm had not experienced any fuel supply issues as yet and had enough stockpiled to last until, at least, the middle of April.

She said they were not anticipating fuel supplies running out but feared that could lead to panic buying.

Hill, who has no alternative but to drive to visit people in their homes, said the cost of living was already quite high.

"So add on the extra fuel that you are using, the extra cost for that, it means that you are struggling more with your bills," she said.

"Rent, food, council tax, all your other bills and expenditure, that's not going down, but the fuel's going up so somehow you have to find that extra bit of money which Is very difficult to do."

The rural nature of Devon means workers like Hill are often more reliant on their cars to do their jobs than those in urban areas.

Claire Jennians, director of Devon Home Care Ltd, said she feared if the war carried on too long, it would have an impact on all social care companies providing care to people in their own homes.

"We live in Devon, it can be quite rural," she said.

"We have staff that live in Paignton that provide care in Teignmouth, provide care in Dawlish, provide care in Bovey Travey."

"Our towns are not that close. It's not like they can walk from people's houses to houses, there's quite a distance that people travel."

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