CALLS for petrol price increases to be scrapped are backed by Dorset business leaders.

More than 700 national business wrote to the government asking a 2p a litre increase due in April to be dropped.

Colin Jamieson, Dorset organiser for the Federation of Small Businesses, said: "If the aim is to reduce vehicle movement it won't work - the cost is passed on to the customer. If they are using it like a green tax, that levy should also be put on people coming into the country.

"French drivers can load up on 1,000 litres in piggyback' petrol tanks before coming here."

Nigel Hedges, vice president of Bournemouth Chamber of Trade, said: "Every few pennies can force small businesses out of business.

"The government wants to beat everybody with the fuel duty stick to make them reconsider how they travel.

"But when you are driving, you are paying, and you are paying when you are stopping- when's it's going to end?"

The average price of petrol is now 104p per litre Steve Butler from Steve Butler Haulage in Wimborne said he sold 18 vehicles and made 15 men redundant five years ago because rising fuel prices made it so hard to be profitable.

He said: "The rises will put more places out of business. All their other costs are going up - you can't take vehicles over a certain age into London because of the emissions.

"Some hauliers round here have spent a fortune replacing vehicles."

The increases will also hit private drivers hard and people were unsure if it might lead to an increase in "green" travel.

Ken Cook, from Ferndown, a member of Dorset Cyclists Network, said: "In Ferndown public transport has been severely cut back, and especially old people, they don't have the choice.

"The congestion charge has increased cycling dramatically in London but it is not so easy in rural Dorset."

Nigel Hedges also runs Bournemouth and Poole MG owners club.

He added: "Why do I see white vans doing 90mph on the M3? If fuel duty is so high why isn't everyone driving fuel efficiently at 56mph?"

Cllr Roger West, a Bournemouth councillor and member of Friends of the Earth, said: "People should pay more interest to the fuel efficiency of their cars.

"They run around town in 4X4s then talk about the environment. It's madness."