'It is fair to say that myself and some colleagues here at CAP, along with many other industry figures, have been accused of negative comment about the whole LPG situation. The views I have formed are based on feedback from the trade where we hear little but doom and gloom stories, or even worse, cases of safety failures they have had direct involvement in.

It is a fact, therefore, that some of these vehicles should not be on the road. But what does the future hold for this alternative fuel?

The trade has already made its mind up on the subject and changing that view will be very difficult. Getting the used car buyer to have real confidence in LPG will also be a tough nut to crack.

The 100% rebate for the Greater London congestion charges only applies to a minority of LPG-powered vehicles – not all are included in the scheme, as many people think. The next and only realistic step to get this whole mess and confusion out into the open is to try to establish some sort of order in the market to promote better understanding.

To that end I now propose an idea. The market needs a special LPG auction, where the leasing industry can offer for sale some of its LPG vehicles – restricted in this case to cars only. The remarketing companies also have some to offer along with the manufacturers who have factory-built ones.

I am not talking particularly large numbers but such a sale would be highly revealing and maybe encourage the establishment of these vehicles on the used market as well as highlight any trend that might already be developing.

On the day, the trade would need to have guidance on which of the vehicles were safe and roadworthy, and a grading system may need to be in place so they could tell the very good from the not-so-good.

I have been playing with this idea for a couple of weeks and everyone I have spoken to welcomes the idea of a dedicated sale. In fact the response from BCA has been more than positive, with bosses declaring that they would be happy to play host and advertise it to their buyers.

This is a really progressive response because none of us really knows how much interest the sale would create. By having an LPG sale, within a normal fleet sale, we could flush out the true feelings of the used market about the LPG issue.

Everyone from both sides of the LPG debate will surely welcome this market-testing exercise and I am now setting things in motion before handing it over to the professionals.'

  • What do you think. Email fleetnewsnet@emap.com