People in the US are reportedly changing their holiday plans – after petrol reached the “ridiculous” price of up to 50p a litre.

The national average for unleaded fuel is $3.53 a US gallon – which works out at just over 47p a litre.

But the price in California, the most expensive state for ‘gas’ in the US, has reached 51p a litre with diesel even higher at 59p.

US motorists will get little sympathy from their British counterparts where petrol is well over £1 a litre and diesel around £1.20.

But Americans have long been used to cheaper fuel prices and the latest increases are reportedly hitting home hard.

Troy Green, of the American Automobile Association, told CNN that Americans should expect the price to go up another 25 cents over the next month and continue to climb over the summer.

He says rising fuel prices is leading Americans to change their vacation plans. People are expected to stay closer to home, use less expensive hotels, eat at fast-food restaurants and hunt for online bargains.

“It seems many American consumers are being hard hit from multiple directions, and their overall budgets are being maxed to the limit,” Mr Green said.

The most expensive city is San Francisco where commuter Debbie Jasmin has stopped driving her gas-guzzling 4WD and started taking the subway to work. She’s also curbed summer travel plans.

“I don’t really think we have seen the worst of it,” she said.

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