The ex-Shell chairman who called for cars that do less than 35mpg to be banned has admitted he owns two cars that do not even manage 20mpg.

Sir Mark Moody-Stuart appears to be one of the ‘do as I say not as I do’ clan of faux environmentalists.

When he is not in the air flying to meetings: “I am not sure of my annual air miles but they are substantial,” he said recently, the former boss of the oil giant is chauffeured around New York in a Lincoln Towncar, which can only returns between 15 and 17mpg around town.

Now Mr Moody-Stuart has also revealed in a series of emails to the Daily Mail’s transport editor that he actually owns an Aston Martin – the marque he singled out as one that should be banned.

In fact, Mr Moody-Stuart owns two cars that can’t manage more than 19mpg – a classic 1949 Jaguar XK120 and a 1959 Aston Martin DB 2/4 MkIII.

“I drive them occasionally for fun with the grandchildren. They should know what they will miss,” he said.

As a tip of his cap to the environmental lobby, he has found room in his garage for a hybrid Toyota Prius.

“As to people in glass houses, I am not throwing stones at anyone,” he said after the British motor manufacturers’ association, the SMMT accused him of hypocrisy.

“I think as a society we need to develop policies which allow people to have the convenience of personal transport, including large and roomy vehicles, but at higher levels of fuel efficiency,” he said.

“All in all I do not see any inconsistency let alone hypocrisy.”

Fleet News readers were, on the whole, full of condemnation when they read Mr Moody-Stuart’s comments to ban such cars (February 14).

Indeed, the article prompted a flood of readers’ letters.