THE cost of filling up at Taunton Deane Services is £20 more expensive than at a petrol station a few miles away, according to an investigation by a national newspaper.

Filling the tank of your average family car with unleaded petrol on the M5 outside Taunton puts you back £74.74, while in Wellington it would cost you £54.84 - even though both are Shell outlets.

The Daily Mail says the motorway services are charging 135.9p a litre compared to some some garages across the country pricing petrol at 97.7p a litre. The Shell station in Wellington charges 105.9p.

The Mail's online page says: "The monumental gap in fuel costs is just the latest example of service stations taking motorists for a ride with inflated prices."

Supermarkets such as Morrisons and Asda, which have filling stations in Taunton, charge under £1 a litre.

Oil prices recently dropped markedly - even to below 0p in the USA.