CHANCELLOR Kenneth Clarke and Trade President Ian Lang are being urged to crack down on East Lancashire garage owner Jim Mole who charges nearly twice as much for petrol than competitors.

Mr Mole does not advertise the price of four star petrol in gallons at his service stations and many motorists only discover they are paying well over the odds after they have filled up.

His garages - which include the Church filling station on Blackburn Road in Oswaldtwistle's West End - charge up to £4.55 a gallon compared to other prices that can be £2.70 or lower.

Mr Mole's garages exploit a loophole in the law which means the only place that the price need to be displayed in both litres and gallons is on the pumps.

And Trading Standards Officers predict things will get worse when petrol prices will only have to be displayed in litres thisautumn. Many motorists cannot convert the price in litres to gallons so making it easier for them to be overcharged.

Now 16 MPs have put down a House of Commons Protest Motion which "condemns the disgraceful behaviour of Mr J Mole, who owns a number of petrol stations in the North West and sells petrol at £4.55 per gallon in comparison with other retailers who are charging £2.70 per gallon".

The MPs go on to say that Mr Mole "misled motorists about his prices and exploited loopholes in the law concerning the advertisements of petrol prices".

They "call upon the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the President of the Board of Trade to bring forward legislation immediately to stop this despicable practice and to ensure motorists are properly informed about the sale price of petrol".

There have been repeated complaints about the prices charged at the Church filling station with Blackburn councillor Donald Heatlie-Jackson bitterly criticising the cost when he dropped in to fill up at the garage.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.