Motorists in Britain could be paying less than £1 (€1.26) a litre for petrol in the New Year as oil continues to plummet, the Royal Automobile Club predicted today. In Malta, the price of fuel is €1.44 and will go down two cents as from January.

The motoring organisation forecast that within the next fortnight alone, petrol prices would fall to below £1.10 a litre and diesel to under £1.16.

The group said it has 'every reason to think petrol at under £1 early in 2015 is a very real prospect’. Petrol was last averaging under £1 a litre in May 2009 when the average price was 99.9p.

But the RAC said motorists have become so used to high petrol prices that many had forgotten that they had ever been less than £1 a litre.

The price of Brent crude has fallen below the $60 (£38)-a-barrel mark for the first time since early July 2009.

And it is predicted to keep on falling after the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries indicated it will not cut production even if it falls to $40 (£25) a barrel.

RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams said: ‘What’s currently happening at the pumps with falling fuel prices is something many motorists will not remember seeing before.’