RMI Petrol chairman Brian Madderson is heading back to Chancellor George Osborne following last month’s meeting with the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) when it announced its provisional decision that it does not plan to launch a market study into UK road fuel retailing.

RMI Petrol submitted evidence from independent forecourts to the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) in mid-February and requested that a new market study be initiated under the Enterprise Act 2002. The OFT announced on April 26 that it did not intend to go ahead with the study.

Madderson said: "We had a useful discussion with the OFT to examine their findings to date and understand better their position following the submittal of our report back in February.

"The OFT has invited us to provide further evidence in support of our original submission. We intend to do this in conjunction with our members and interested third parties before the OFT reaches a final view in mid-June."

Madderson admitted he was disappointed with the provisional decision, and would seek further advice from Osborne as he felt the OFT may have too limited a remit to deal with the many and varied concerns of the fuel retailing sector. (See News Extra p10).