CABINET ministers are being urged to crack down on a North West garage owner who has been charging £4.55 a gallon at a Bolton service station. Furious MPs want Chancellor Kenneth Clarke and Trade President Ian Lang to close a loophole which allows Jim Mole to lure unsuspecting motorists to his high priced pumps. A Commons motion accuses Mr Mole of misleading motorists and exploiting the lax laws on price displays.

At the Fourgates Service Station on the A6 between Westhoughton and Blackrod, petrol was being sold at the last check for £4.55 a gallon .

But because Mr Mole only shows the price in litres at his chain of NW garages, most drivers do not realise - until they reach the cash desk, that they are paying massively over the odds.

Just over a week ago, the BEN told how Mr Mole was fuelling new outrage over his petrol prices at a time when major retailers were slashing theirs.

Currently petrol is costing around £2.70 a gallon at many competitor stations.

Motorists who are stung by the prices at the Fourgates and Mr Mole's chain of other NW petrol stations have been demanding action for months.

Trading Standards Officers and the police are currently powerless to stop Mr Mole.

Although prices must be displayed at the pumps there is no requirement to display them at all on the forecourt.

They have been lobbying the government to insist prices be displayed in both litres and gallons so motorists can see them before filling up. Now MPs have joined them.

The situation will become more complicated this autumn when the need to display prices in gallons will be abolished under a European Union directive.

But this week sixteen MPs - led by Warrington's Mike Hall - launched a Commons attack on Mr Mole and called for new laws to curb his activities.

They have put down a Commons motion which "condemns the disgraceful behaviour of Mr J Mole who owns a number of petrol stations in the NW and sells petrol at £4.55 per gallon in comparison with other retailers who are charging £2.70 a gallon".

The MP's motion claims that Mr Mole: "Misled motorists about his prices and exploited loopholes in the law concerning the advertisement of prices."

The motion, which is on the House of Commons order paper circulated to all MPs, ministers and civil servants, "therefore calls 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 that motorists are properly informed about the sale price of petrol."

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