Antique shop owner Melanie Wilson says she has moved her business closer to home because she was struggling to pay nearly £300 a week on diesel as a result of soaring fuel prices. She opened her new location in Turriff, Aberdeenshire, earlier this month - cutting her commute by 20 miles and her fuel spend in half. Fuel prices in the UK have climbed about 5p in just one week as a result of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, with diesel edging towards £1.95 a litre in some areas.
Wilson is one of countless people in small rural locations around Scotland who are feeling the pinch as they need their cars for work and everyday life. Why are petrol and diesel prices rising again? Fuel prices started to climb when the US-Israel war with Iran began on 28 February.
The military strikes severely disrupted the production and transportation of energy across the region. Prices fell back when the US and Iran agreed to a framework deal to end the fighting in June. However they have started rising again as tensions resurface, with the price of wholesale oil back above $100 a barrel.
More stories from North East Scotland, Orkney and Shetland Listen to news from North East Scotland on BBC Sounds Wilson, 37, lives in Banff, but has now moved her shop location from Insch to Turriff to cut travel costs. She said she spends more than £150 a week on diesel - but it used to be about double that. "I decided to move the shop really just because of the travel," she said.
"It just wasn't justifiable driving back and forth every day with the price of fuel. "There's no other option. I mean, you can dread going to the pump." Taxi driver Martin Milne, 55, employs 24 people at his business.
With fuel obviously forming a significant part of the company's running costs, rising prices are putting further pressure on his business. "The last two days the price has risen nine, 10 pence a litre," he said. "The cost per month now to fill my cars is horrendous.
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