York motorists are paying about 30p a gallon more for new Lead Replacement Petrol than unleaded petrol - even though it is just as green.

Traditional leaded four-star has long carried a higher duty than unleaded because of its damaging effect on the environment.

Four-star will be banned from sale from January 1, but many filling stations in York have already replaced it with LRP, which can be used by older cars without engine adjustment because of a special anti-wear additive.

LRP contains no lead and is no more environmentally damaging than traditional unleaded. But the price remains as high as leaded four-star.

For example, a litre costs 79.9p at Tesco's pumps at Askham Bar, compared to just 72.9p per litre for unleaded.

That means a motorist driving 12,000 miles a year using LRP could fork out about £100 more on fuel than someone using traditional unleaded fuel. Oil companies are responsible for part of the differential. The AA said the companies had claimed they needed to charge more for LRP to recoup their investments in developing the product.

But Chancellor Gordon Brown is also charging 2p per litre more in duty on LRP than traditional unleaded, justifying the higher rate on the basis that older cars using LRP tend to be bigger polluters.

However, the AA pointed out today that older cars also tended to be driven by people on lower incomes who could least afford to pay higher duties.

The association said it had argued for traditional unleaded and unleaded LRP to carry the same duty.

Ryedale's Tory MP John Greenway said today: "I don't think the differential can be justified.

"Poor people tend to drive older cars - and many elderly people tend to have these older vehicles."

He felt it was also another example of rural motorists losing out.

The AA spokesman said the association had accepted the higher charges from oil companies in the short term but it felt LRP prices should fall over time.

"We are keeping a close eye on it and would expect to see the gap decline," said a spokesman.

Phil Geavon, treasurer of the York Historic Vehicle Group, who drives a 1970 Sunbeam Alpine, claimed the mark-ups on petrol were "a big government con".

"I don't believe the environmental issue comes into it - it's just a big money earner for them," he said.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.