motorway station ripoff

That doesn't sound at all right. But it puts me in mind of one of the service chains in the 90s that started a "Hot drinks from 99p" promo in response to a media mauling of their rip-off pricing then. I remember going in to one of these and buying a cup of tea, which must surely be the cheapest hot drink going, and finding it well over a quid. I wish I'd asked but I can't think what you got for 99p. Hot water maybe?

Similarly, the tea was pathetically small, something that annoys me far more than the price. For the money they didn't have to penny pinch.

Restaurants are indeed required to show tax-inclusive prices. The only possible wriggle room I can see is that the £5.99 price was for a cold, takeaway curry meal for, say, truck drivers to heat later in their cabs :) You need someone more expert in VAT and consumer protection law than me to advise on the likelihood of that; and they might well want to see the precise words of the placard

I think it is was a wimpy in the 1990s - I went into a London branch of the franchise and up on the walls were pictures of large steak plates piled high with sausages, bacon, beans etc. I ordered one of these large meals. What turned up was a small plate of food - the sausages were of the cocktail size.

Don't know what he did, but it looks like user error.

Yep, that's it. It was the Moto station betweenJ11 an J12 westbound on M4. No sign of ex VAT there.

I did ask about it a lot, the guy said "it's not me doing it you will have the ask management", which of course would be in a headoffice somewhere up naarth I suppose. The real people to see would be Tradings Standards. Next time I will order the meal again, let them prepare the meal, then refuse to take the meal with the VAT increased price and go to different counter.

Don't rule out c*ck-up rather than conspiracy - i.e. someone entered the wrong price in the computer. I'd have scanned the receipt and emailed it to Head Office with a polite query.

So why didn't he correct when I pointed out that they overcharged? Why did he say that the VAT was added according to management rules? I queried this at some length and pointed out that they were acting illegally. Why is it that any supposed 'user error' is always in the shop's favour? End the end I couldn't be bothered about £1.20 out of pocket, but felt cheated somehow, just like someone had nicked the £1.20.

Read the regs in easy to digest (pun intended ) form here:

Ahhh, I wonder if this is an eat in / eat out thing - if you look at Greggs pricing, they have dual prices displayed according to if you eat in or out.

I would never expect someone working at the checkout in a MSA (or even the manager in a large supermarket or store) to have authority to override what the system stated was the VAT. Bearing in mind that for all he knew you were a VAT officer carrying out a mystery shopper exercise. Possibly reduce the price "ex gratia", yes. Switch a sale from standard to zero rated, no, not never no how.

I had assumed that Johannes bought his meal hot and it was designed to be sold hot. (We are not in freshly baked pasties land if you recall the 2012 Budget.) So ISTM clearly covered by

"Hot take-away food that meets certain tests set out below is standard-rated. Cold take-away food and drink is zero-rated, provided it is not of a type that is always standard-rated (such as crisps, sweets, beverages and bottled water). Hot drinks are standard rated. Further information can be found in Notice 701/14 Food."

I just want to clarify. It was not about whether VAT would apply or not; I remember some old discussions about whether e.g. biscuits were food or cakes. Whatever the situation, the adverticed price on the plackard for an outlet in a motorway statiuon serving the public, where you would sit and eat, should be the price you pay for the food; not stepped up from the displayed price list by some phoney tax claims.

I have never come across this before, apart from only in the US where they add state taxes to to your bill for a cup of coffee. But we are not in the US on M4.