Sir Peter Vardy is at number 137 in the Sunday Times' Pay List, its ranking of the 500 highest-paid people in the UK in 2001.

The chairman of the Reg Vardy dealer group, the paper says, took a salary of £134,000 and dividends of £1,801,351 to add to £2,902,500 of share sales in March, bringing his total earnings to £4.838m. Last year, he reportedly earned £3.831m.

Robert Edmiston, IM Group chairman, comes in at number 71 in the list, with earnings totalling £7.707m. Sir John Browne, group chief executive of BP, is at 212 (£3.25m) and Stanley West, managing director of Euro Car Parts, is at 454 (£1.68m). Topping the 500 is Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone who reportedly earned £788m this year.