Oil giant BP soared to mammoth third-quarter profits of $10 billion (£6.4bn) as it reaped the benefits of record prices.

The company's huge haul for the July-September period is a whopping 148 per cent above the $4m it made in the same period last year.

Its profits came as crude oil prices hit a new peak above $147-a-barrel in mid-July.

The profits sparked fresh protests from motorists and businesses who have felt the pain at the petrol pump this year.

West trucker Andy Boyle, who became chairman of the Road Haulage Association earlier this year was one of those to voice his disapproval.

The Herefordshire-based haulier, whose firm ABE operates from Ledbury, said: "It's all right for some. BP will have a very big smile on their faces.

"I am sure they will have an answer for it – they will say they are the unwitting beneficiaries from a huge and unprecedented rise in the price of oil.

"But they have in a sense been profiteering by not passing on the recent falls in the price of oil to motorists.

"We haven't seen as big a fall at the pumps over the last two and a half months as we should have seen.

"They should give the money back to the purchaser and reduce the price at the same rate they put it up.

"If the market price of oil goes up today, by tomorrow night it's hit the pump. But if the market price goes down it won't be tomorrow night the price comes down, that's for sure." Oil prices have since fallen by more than half their July peak to just above $60 a barrel this week because the looming global recession is fuelling fears that there will be less demand for fuel, despite moves by oil cartel Opec to cut production to boost the price.

Over the weekend, average petrol prices fell below the £1 per litre mark for the first time in 12 months but many experts, consumer groups, business leaders and politicians believe more aggressive cuts are required.

The Prime Minister yesterday echoed Mr Boyle's concerns that consumers are not getting a fair deal from petrol retailers.

Speaking at 10 Downing Street, Gordon Brown did not directly address the issue of BP's profits, but told reporters: "I notice that some companies have brought their prices down and I encourage others to do so to reflect the fact that the price of oil is now below $60 when it used to be, for a few weeks, nearly $150.

"There has been more than a halving in the price of oil and, just as when the price goes up people see it immediately reflected in the petrol pump prices, we want to see the falling price reflected in the petrol pump prices, and we are determined to see that happens."

BP chief executive Tony Hayward said: "Although it has since fallen away sharply, the high oil price of the third quarter obviously helped our absolute result."

The company averaged a selling price of more than $111 a barrel, compared to "just" $71 in the same period last year.

Mr Hayward said BP was well set to weather the storm of a global recession and the prospect of falling oil prices.

Union leaders and politicians angrily attacked the company and Labour MP John McDonnell said he would be raising the issue in Parliament by calling for a windfall tax for this "grotesquely obscene level of profiteering by BP".