RURAL filling stations could be put out of business if the government failed to amend pricing structures, a Yorkshire dales garage proprietor has warned.

Ministers' insistence that major companies like Shell and BP keep pump prices down in spite of rising wholesale costs meant small, independent garages could not compete, said Mr John Brayshaw, who runs the Dale Head garage at Hawes with his wife, Shirley.

The cost was passed on to rural customers, who paid between five and nine pence a litre more than their urban counterparts.

"The oil majors and supermarkets are selling diesel at 82 or 83.9p per litre whereas I am paying 86.6p per litre," said Mr Brayshaw. "We are paying more for the fuel than the oil majors are selling for at the pump and the anomaly is forcing many independents out of business," he said.

The bigger companies could afford to underwrite retail losses but smaller garages could not.

The pricing structure also meant low income rural customers, already battling against the farming crisis, faced paying more for fuel than people in towns and cities.

"It is very unfair on our loyal customers who, if we closed, would have to travel miles for fuel," he said. "Catterick Garrison, 20 miles away, has our nearest supermarket with petrol and some of our customers already come from ten miles away because we are their nearest garage.

"A further problem is that visitors to our area accuse us of making huge profits when they compare our selling price to those at the major sites and supermarkets."

The price difference had already contributed towards the poorest business year since the Brayshaws took over the garage 11 years ago.

"I would say we are 15 to 20pc down on last year and it is our loyal account customers who are keeping us going," said Mr Brayshaw.

"All we are asking for is a level playing field in order that rural customers such as ours get their fuel at prices that their urban counterparts enjoy."

The Brayshaws have written to Tory leader and local MP Mr William Hague, who said he appreciated the problem and would raise it when parliament re-opened next week.

Their plight has also been taken up by Coun John Blackie, who was to raise it at the Richmondshire district council access, travel and transport group last night.

l Mr Hague launched the Conservative party's latest fuel action day at the WCF petrol station, Catterick Village, on Saturday, when he filled up a Ford Mondeo and supported local activists collecting signatures demanding lower petrol taxes.

He said: "The price of fuel is astronomical and the main cause is the high level of tax imposed by Labour. It is now hurting ordinary people. The government should cut fuel duty now."