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."
Follow BBC Devon on X, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected].
LATEST POSTS
- 1
4 Coolers for Present day Kitchens - 2Dominating Capable Mastercard Utilization: Key Contemplations
- 3The Iconic, Instantly Recognizable Plastic Chair That's Known All Around The World
- 4Venice’s newest marvel is a wild, acrobatic dolphin. His refusal to leave puts him in danger
- 5Surprising links between autism, Alzheimer’s could change how we treat both
- Divorce filings, feuds and legal trouble: The 'Mormon Wives' drama keeps piling up
- Agios Pharma shares jump as US FDA expands approval for its blood disorder drug
- Weeks-Long Australian LNG Outage Will Further Tighten Supply
- Figure out How to Remain Persuaded During Your Internet based Degree Program
- Dutch police probe a small blast outside a pro-Israel Christian center
- The moon up close: How the Artemis 2 astronauts are photographing their historic lunar flyby
- Like 'accelerating from stationary to supersonic flight': Europe's Hera probe boosts speed, stays on course for November asteroid rendezvous
- Egypt seeks to calm tourist fears over fallout of Iran war
- Figure out How to Augment Eco-friendliness in Your Volvo XC40
