TRADING Standards officers in East Yorkshire are to visit fuel merchants to check that customers are getting the amount they have paid for.

Many of the checks will be carried out in rural areas where people are reliant on private cars and are forced to use relatively expensive heating oil, solid fuel or bottled gas to heat their homes.

The summer initiative will involve a series of visits to independent garages selling petrol and diesel and bulk fuel sellers, who distribute heating oil and packers of gas bottles of propane and butane used for heating.

In addition, roadside checks will be carried out on vehicles carrying fuel products such as coal and bulk liquid fuel.

These checks will ensure that sacks of solid fuel contain the correct required weight and meters on tankers have not been tampered with.