TAUNTON motorists are being charged more to fill up at the pumps than drivers elsewhere in the region.

Taunton MP Jeremy Browne has discovered we are paying up to 4p a litre more than in some South-West towns - roughly £2 extra on a tank of petrol.

Mr Browne, who surveyed 13 Sainsbury's petrol stations from Bournemouth to Plymouth, is threatening to make a formal complaint.

He discovered that while we are charged 95.9p a litre in Taunton, the price is just 91.9p in Plymouth, Truro and Weston-super-Mare.

Apart from Bridgwater, where a litre is also 95.9p, the price at the other Sainsbury's forecourts he checked are at least 1p cheaper.

"Consumers in Taunton Deane shouldn't have to pay more for their petrol than elsewhere in the South-West," said Mr Browne, who has written to Sainsbury's Chief Executive.

It is a similar story at Shell, who also charge 95.9p a litre in Taunton compared to 91.9p in Bristol, Poole and Salisbury.

Mr Browne added: "There's no good reason for prices to be higher in Taunton - we're just off the M5, so it could hardly be easier for the petrol to be transported, especially compared to more remote locations like Truro."

He will make a formal complaint in the House of Commons if the oil companies continue their higher prices in Taunton.

A Sainsbury's spokesman said: "We aim to offer customers the best possible prices for petrol and we regularly check our prices against competitors to make sure we are offering good value.

"In addition, to stay competitive within their own local market, individual petrol stations may adjust their fuel prices in response to local competition."

A Shell spokeswoman said: "Each service station operates within its own competitive environment.

"So each service station is looked at individually regarding fuel pricing and in doing so it takes into account a number of different factors."

She said those factors were: *different levels of competitive intensity.

*the proximity of competitors.

*traffic flows.

*customer base.

*throughputs (operating costs etc).

*the petrol market in the UK ius highly competitive.

*Shell is committed to maintaining competitively priced fuels across our network of regional sites in the UK.

*benchmarking shows that they are currently on average the cheapest of the oil majors at the pumps.

MR BROWNE'S PRICE LEAGUE TABLE FOR LITRE OF UNLEADED PETROL (Sainsbury's South West outlets on Tuesday): TAUNTON - 95.9p Bridgwater - 95.9p Bournemouth - 94.9p Exeter - 94.9p Paignton - 94.9p Street - 94.9p Torquay - 94.9p Bath - 93.9p Bristol - 92.9p Frome - 92.9p Plymouth - 91.9p Truro - 91.9p Weston-super-Mare - 91.9p