ONLY one in three garages across North Yorkshire is giving good value for money when it comes to car servicing, say consumer watchdogs.

An investigation by the county's trading standards officials revealed that two-thirds of vehicles were not receiving a satisfactory service.

And they are now calling on the Government to introduce a compulsory licensing system to ensure customers are not short-changed.

Trading standards officers made their own inquiries after receiving 283 complaints in the last year about the quality of car servicing throughout the county.

They sent several vehicles to dealers and posed as customers to check the validity of the complaints. Only one in three cars was properly serviced.

Problems included hydraulic steering fluid and tyre pressures not being checked, charges being made for parts that were not fitted and work on vehicles being undertaken without the customer's authority.

Stuart Pudney, head of trading standards in North Yorkshire, said car servicing was an area which had become a cause for concern.

"Consumers do not usually have any means of checking the work of garages and must accept that the service or repair has been done properly," he said.

"The survey results show that the trust consumers have in these businesses is sometimes misplaced. Servicing a car can be costly, with the prices in our survey ranging from £85 to £212 and consumers deserve the job to be done correctly."

The survey results will be forwarded to the Department of Trade and Industry, which is currently working on measures to cut the number of problems motorists face when having vehicles repaired.

Mr Pudney added: "The Government appears to be considering dealing with these problems by relying on voluntary codes of practice and good trader schemes.

"If garages do not improve their own performance drastically then the Government should, as a matter of urgency, look at some form of compulsory licensing system which would provide a real incentive for traders to ensure they do not short change customers.