Fuel distributors are scheduled to meet tomorrow to decide on their action plan against recently introduced government measures aimed at catching tax dodgers as a split between them has emerged.

On Thursday, the government upped the tax applicable on heating oil, which will later be refunded, in a procedure which is aimed at helping to stamp out tax evasion that currently reaches millions of euros.

Questioned on the issue by Kathimerini, the head of the Federation of Petrol Vendors in Greece (OBE), Michalis Kiousis, said he did not want to comment as he had been receiving death threats.

A number of heating oil distributors were closed yesterday, in protest at the move, but later opened for business as three large companies in the sector decided to conform to the new tax regulations and operate as normal.

Industry sources said Athens operators largely adopted the change, while distributors mostly in Thessaloniki, Crete, Corfu and Grevena had shut down petrol pumps.