SPIRALLING fuel taxes have hit North-East drivers hardest, according to the Automobile Association.

Successive governments have punished motorists by lumping nearly 20 per cent on to the price of fuel in the past ten years.

But it is despairing Northern drivers who are shouldering the greatest fuel tax burden.

The AA's Denise Raven said: "Escalating fuel prices have been particularly bad for the North-East. Incomes are relatively much smaller in the North than the South.

"Households in the North-East are now probably paying more on fuel tax than they are on income tax."

Research shows that in 1989 duty on unleaded petrol accounted for 58 per cent of the price of a litre, compared with 77 per cent this year.

The meteoric rise in fuel taxation has pushed Britain into the unflattering position of having the cheapest fuel before tax, and the most expensive after Chancellor Gordon Brown gets his duty.

Ms Raven said: "What has started happening in the last few days is what we have warned the Government about. Using the motorist as an easy target to fund a lot of other projects is backfiring."

The AA is aggrieved that despite the Treasury skimming £36bn in taxation from motorists, only about £6bn is pushed back into improving transport.

Ms Raven said: "They talk about trying to get people out of cars and talk about people using alternatives.

"What they do not realise is there are no alternatives because £30bn is going elsewhere."

Prime Minister Tony Blair blamed the previous government for introducing the Fuel Duty Escalator (FDE) - an environmental measure to discourage motorists from using cars, which included a mandatory fuel tax rise each year.

But it was Mr Brown who heaped further tax rises on top of the FDE, claiming it was to make up for a £28bn revenue deficit in Government coffers.

Association of British Drivers chairman, Brian Gregory, said the Labour Government had an obligation to reverse the taxation trend or pay the price at the next election.

"Mr Brown should be called up before a select committee and dragged across hot coals for hours."

"People should just pay the Government back by giving them a good kick in the ballots when the opportunity arises."

Mr Brown addressed the Trades Union Conference in Glasgow, yesterday.

He told delegates: "We have higher excise duties than Europe, but we also have just about the lowest tax rates on work, the lowest business tax rates, the lowest VAT rates."

Despite mass public protest against fuel taxation, the likelihood of any immediate change is slim.

Prime Minister Tony Blair said on Monday: "We share the concern of businesses and motorists about the high fuel prices, but we cannot and will not alter Government policy on petrol through blockades and pickets."

TUC at Glasgow: Page 1