I too have noticed that petrol prices are higher in Scarbor- ough than many other places.

An even bigger scandal, in my opinion, is that diesel prices are so much higher than petrol prices in Scarborough (and the UK in general) when diesel is a much lower grade product of the fractionating column at oil refineries.

The usual government res- ponse to this question is that it is not the government that causes our oil products to cost so much more than in other parts of the world, but that oil company prices are to blame.

Come on Chancellor, how can you blame the oil companies when the over 80 per cent UK tax on road vehicle fuels is far more significant and now seems to be stealthily more heavily biased against the cheaper diesel fuel, resulting in a 9 to 10 pence diesel price penalty in Scarborough.

In practical terms this means we spend between £6 and £7 more per tank full of “cheaper” diesel oil than unleaded petrol.

Coming on top of the climb-down on the 10 per cent income tax fiasco and the bank mortgage juggling it would seem that Ministers Brown and Darling cannot get anything right at the moment.

How can we trust these people to look after our country?

John G Smith

Glynndale Drive

Newby

Scarborough