Powered by official UK Government data

What is the Fuel Finder API?

The UK Government Fuel Finder API is a centrally maintained database of fuel station information and pump prices across the United Kingdom. It was established as part of the UK Government’s transparency initiative to help consumers compare fuel prices.

Under UK regulations, major fuel retailers with 100 or more filling stations are required to report their pump prices to this central system. Many smaller retailers participate voluntarily, resulting in coverage of approximately 7,500 stations across all UK nations.

What data does it include?

The Fuel Finder API provides two categories of data:

Station information

• Trading name and brand name
• Full address including postcode
• Geographic coordinates (latitude and longitude)
• Fuel types offered
• Amenities (toilets, shop, car wash, etc.)
• Opening times
• Station classification (motorway service station, supermarket station, etc.)
• Operational status (open, temporarily closed, permanently closed)

Price information

• Current price per litre for each fuel type
• Last updated timestamp for each price
• Supported fuel types: E10 (Unleaded), E5 (Super Unleaded), B7 (Diesel), and SDV (Premium Diesel)

How does Fuelsy use this data?

Fuelsy’s backend polls the government API every 2 minutes for price updates and hourly for station metadata changes. On each poll, we:

• Compare incoming prices against stored current prices to detect changes
• Record every price change in an append-only event log, preserving the full history
• Capture daily price snapshots for accurate trend analysis
• Track station metadata changes (rebranding, closures, amenity updates)
• Compute intelligence metrics: trust scores, volatility, anomaly detection, and regional aggregates

Data licensing

Government fuel price data is published under the Open Government Licence v3.0, which permits copying, adaptation, and redistribution for both commercial and non-commercial purposes, subject to attribution.

Fuelsy attributes the UK Government as the source of all fuel price data throughout its website and application.

Coverage limitations

While coverage is extensive, the government API does not include every fuel station in the UK:

• Very small independent stations may not participate in the reporting scheme
• Newly opened stations may take time to appear in the system
• Some stations may report price updates less frequently than others
• Reported prices may occasionally lag behind actual pump price changes

Fuelsy’s intelligence features (trust scores, anomaly detection) are specifically designed to help users identify and account for these data quality variations.