Shell has been accused of misleading the public after claiming it had cut a penny of the price of petrol when only a fraction of its stations were selling the fuel at the reduced price.

Shell has said it is leaving its price ceiling unchanged at 79.9p a litre but had reduced its minimum price to 75.9p from 76.9p.

David Handley of Farmers for Action said the government was doing nothing to ease taxes on fuels and accused oil companies of not cutting prices quickly enough and he warned that plans were underway for new fuel protests "within days".

Chairman of the Commons Trade and Industry Committee, Martin O'Neill, yesterday accused Shell and other oil companies of being "laggardly" for not cutting pump prices and admitted that the government was at the mercy of the oil giants.