British motorists are now paying record levels of taxes on petrol and diesel fuelling calls to halt next year's proposed hike in duty.

The latest statistics from the House of Commons library reveal that a staggering 81p of an average litre of petrol costing 138.3p goes straight into the hands of the Treasury in fuel duty and VAT, reports The Telegraph.

The figure has now hit the same record level that afflicted motorists earlier this year, a peak that led to chancellor George Osborne postponing an earlier planned hike in tax. Diesel car owners pay even more for a litre of fuel - an average of 143.2p - of which, 81.8p, is tax.

Without a Treasury U-turn, the planned duty escalator will see petrol and diesel leap by yet another 3p a litre on Jan 1 2013.

A broad alliance of motoring groups and campaigners are now calling on the chancellor to put the brakes on the planned rise, before Britain's already depressed household budgets are squeezed even further.

The politically neutral Commons library regularly charts the shifting prices and tax rates on fuel and its latest report shows that, after tailing off over the summer, prices at the pump are now dangerously close to those last seen in April, when a litre of petrol retailed for 141.7p.

The report said that this year's higher prices have been put down to rising global oil prices, the weaker pound and increases in duty and VAT.

It reveals that UK fuel duty is now the second highest in the European Union and, according to European Commission data, UK diesel is the most expensive in the EU.

Motorists will be hoping the Treasury will signal whether it will take action to halt the rise in chancellor's Autumn Statement on 5 December.