Motor retailers feeling swamped by a sea of red tape are being urged to tell Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown which regulations they would most like scrapped or amended.

With FSA, Block Exemption revisions and stricter hazardous waste controls a few examples of new restrictions that have affected the sector in the last couple of years, the Chancellor has asked company leaders to give him feedback on which legislation, including domestic and European, is most unnecessary.

In response, the Forum of Private Business has set up an online survey at www.fpb.org which is also open to non FPB members. It asks business owners which laws are most outdated or damaging to competitiveness, and how regulation could be simplified.

FPB chief executive Nick Goulding will present the survey’s findings to the Better Regulation Team at the Department of Trade and Industry. “The malignant spread of red tape is undermining business and this is a golden opportunity for bosses to tell Mr Brown in no-nonsense terms where red tape is choking them,” he says.

Many motor retailers at AM’s recent autoretailing05 conference complained about the costs and hassle involved in gaining FSA approval.