DIESEL has broken through. Recent figures show that, after the best part of a decade in which diesel cars have sold in ever greater numbers year on year, sales of diesel fuel now match petrol. For the first time UK motorists are buying as much diesel fuel as they do petrol as sales of diesel-engined cars soar, according to figures from the Energy Institute (EI).

In 2004 total retail motor fuel sales in the UK was 28.2 million tonnes, the largest volume sold, with the EI reporting: “Taking into account the total road fuel market — both retail and commercial consumers — 2004 was the first year when almost equal volumes of diesel and petrol were sold in the UK.”

It is not hard to see why diesel is such an attractive option. True, new petrol-engined cars are becoming more fuel efficient, and there are diehards who will insist that diesel is for trucks (and marine uses) but that petrol — as in “petrol-head” — is for the real driver.

Well the figures show differently. The International Energy Agency reports that, in the past decade, retail petrol sales have fallen 15 per cent while diesel fuel sales have more than doubled.

Wonderful new diesel cars from the likes of BMW, and from traditional diesel suppliers such as Peugeot and Citroën, with advanced diesels featuring strongly in the engine line-ups of most manufacturers, prove that diesel cars are not only clean and frugal, but can also offer serious performance.

Whatever your fuel, you are likely to have to drive farther to get it. Last year 184 forecourts closed down, shutting at the rate of 15 a month, Petroleum Review reported.