THE 500th liquefied petroleum gas service station has been officially opened in Plymouth by BP Amoco. It's the company's 72nd and with 10 further stations currently in build, the fuel giant is well on the way to reaching its target of having 100 stations open by the end of 2000.

Paul Bennett, UK fuels product manager for BP Oil UK, explained that liquefied petroleum gas was becoming more popular, even before the fuel crisis took hold.

He said: 'Liquefied petroleum gas has really taken off this year. We have seen our sales volume grow by 28 times since the start of this year. More stations are now open and more people are becoming interested in dual fuel vehicles.

At the moment, BP's alternative fuel strategy lies with LPG and Bennett stressed the company was unlikely to look at others in the near future: 'We did trial compressed natural gas about two years ago but we decided not to proceed any further. This was because of the lack of need and because very few cars could actually take it.'