News at Carmuirs, Falkirk, as it headed from the BP complex at Grangemouth, Stirlingshire, to Cumbria. Train operators EWS have launched a probe, but said the tankers were designed to withstand such impacts and there were no leaks or danger to the public. Thousands of morning commuters were hit by a shutdown of part of the track which affected services between Edinburgh and Dunblane.
Scotland: City petrol stations fail on fire code Nearly half of all petrol stations in a Scottish city failed to meet official fire safety guidelines in recent spotchecks. Of 51 garages visited by trading standards officers in Edinburgh, 20 fell below statutory standards to protect public safety. Breaches included damaged pumps, faulty emergency shut-off switches, substandard fire extinguishers and poor staff knowledge of emergency procedures. The checks were carried out during the eight-day firefighters’ strike in November to ensure residents were as safe as possible while emergency cover was disrupted. Mike Drewry, the director of environmental and consumer services for the City of Edinburgh Council, said there could be "no excuses" for the lapses.
Scottish whisky island to run wave-powered bus Scotland's whisky-producing island of Islay will run the world's first bus to be powered by wavegenerated electricity at the end of November, Greenpeace said. The environmental campaigning group said it had donated the electric bus to be powered from a commercial wave generator on Islay, which aims to be energy selfsufficient. "We're pretty confident that this is the first wave-powered
bus in the world," said Ben Stewart of Greenpeace. "We hope in decades to come all transport will be of this type." Previously electric vehicles have mostly relied on fossil-fuel power generation, which produces greenhouse gases, blamed for global warming. The UK government has set itself a target to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 23 percent on 1990 levels by 2010, well above its commitments under the U.N. Kyoto Protocol.
Tesco claims selling petrol 9c cheaper than average Irish price UK retail giant Tesco has begun selling petrol which it claims is 9c per litre less than the average price charged in Dublin. Although the supermarket group has only opened one station - in Killarney - it has fired the first shot in what could be a price war, indicating its willingness to undercut the existing players. In recent years, similar moves in the UK resulted in a massive price war between supermarkets and oil corporations. Gordon Fryett, chief executive of the Irish operation said it has sought planning permission for forecourts in Finglas and Sandyford in Dublin and Maynooth in Co Kildare and is to seek planning permission for a station in Letterkenny, Co Donegal.
its UK petrol retailing operations, Tesco Ireland has dipped its toe in the Irish petrol market with a new filling station at its store in Killarney. However, Tesco has played down suggestions of a nationwide roll-out for its petrol business although it says that other ventures in Meath and Dublin may be on the cards. The Killarney store has already caused a bit of controversy by selling unleaded petrol at 84 cents per litre and diesel for 76.6 cents. This forced a number of local outlets run by Statoil and Shell to cut their prices to bring them in line with their new rival. Over the last ten years, Tesco has built up a successful and highly profitable business in the UK where it now operates 300 filling stations adjacent to its stores.
Ireland: Feb 16 2003 Illicit fuel operation uncovered Police and customs officers have uncovered an illegal fuel laundering operation in Northern Ireland. Officers said the plant at Carrickmore in County Tyrone had a capacity to launder 85,000 litres of fuel a month. The laundering operation, which could have cost the taxpayer up to £500,000 a year, was discovered in a barn erected above several underground storage tanks. The current price of fuel in the Republic of Ireland is lower than that in Northern Ireland - with excise duty on petrol 20p per litre cheaper on petrol and 25p per litre on diesel. 'Significant hit'
The supermarket group is preparing to increase the amount of sales it generates from non-food items. Fryett said the company had signed a new deal with US clothing company Cherokee to provide goods for Irish and British outlets.
Ireland: Tesco takes on the petrol companies Following on from the success of
Large amounts of illegal fuel are smuggled across the border into Northern Ireland. Paramilitaries are involved in many of the illegal laundering operations. A customs spokesman said: "This was a highly sophisticated laundering operation. Its discovery is another significant hit on the illegal fuel trade and shows the benefit of close working with the Police Service of Northern Ireland. We have repeatedly warned motorists to think before buying cheap fuel. It puts honest filling stations out of business, robs 17
