§ Mr. Marlowasked the Secretary of State for Trade whether, further to his reply to the hon. Member for Northampton, North on 5 December, Official Report, column 395, he will give the technical details explaining why it is impossible for some petrol pumps to accommodate higher gallonage prices.
§ Mrs. Sally OppenheimCertain types of petrol pumps, particularly mechanical ones, are not designed to indicate and compute above a unit price of 99.9p because of limitations in the indicating and price-computing mechanism. The face of a pump of this type is designed to show only three figures for the price per gallon so the gear train would need some redesigning to go above £1.00 per gallon; in addition, the price-to-pay gearing would have to be completely redesigned. Alternatively, a new face could be provided, but again both gear trains would need redesigning. The ability to modify a pump would depend on sufficient space being available.