MOTORISTS have called for an end to “rip-off” petrol prices - dubbed the Tendring Fuel Tax.

Drivers are hitting out at petrol stations for charging more than than just a few miles away in Colchester.

A Gazette investigation has revealed motorists in Tendring have to pay up to 4p a litre more for unleaded fuel.

The price-gap means the district’s annual fuel bill is millions of pounds more than across the border.

The Competition Commission has now been called to launch a probe into forecourt prices.

Clacton cabbie and Tendring District Taxi Association chairman John Hones, said drivers were being “ripped off”.

Consumer watchdog PetrolPrices.Com revealed the cheapest unleaded petrol in Clacton is 129.9p a litre compared with 126.7p at Asda in Colchester.

The highest price listed in Clacton was 131.9p and the only pump in the Frinton and Walton area - Esso in Frinton Road, Kirby Cross - charges 130.9p.

Clacton MP Douglas Carswell has now written to the Competition Commission over petrol prices in Clacton and Tendring, calling on the independent public body to ensure there is real competition between local retailers.