New APEAMembers

• Code of practice for petroleum road tanker vapour collection systems and equipment used in unloading operations.

UK, Essex, Latchingdon. Lucky escape at petrol station blaze

A major disaster was averted after a car burst into flames at a petrol station. Crews from South Woodham Ferrers and Maldon worked quickly to contain the blaze to the car, which was parked at a pump at the Texaco garage in The Street, Latchingdon, shortly after 1.30pm on Tuesday, March 3. Sub officer Robin Chaplin from Maldon fire station said: "The woman driver had just filled up, she went to start the car and it burst into flames. The South Woodham crews were there first and used foam on the fire to prevent it spreading. "The driver was a bit shaken up, and the car was a write off. It was a lucky escape, it could have been a major disaster."

UK, Cambridge. Blaze at petrol station

An electrical fault is believed to have sparked a blaze at a Cambridge petrol station. The fire broke out in the shop at the Shell garage in Newnham Road. Two fire engines attended the scene, and quickly had the fire under control. No-one was injured.

UK, Caerphilly. Checks after petrol pump faults

Fuel pumps at more than 70 Tesco filling stations in the UK had to be checked after thousands of people were overcharged at one petrol garage. Motorists who filled up at the Ystrad Mynach store in Caerphilly county over a nine month period received less fuel than they paid for. The average overcharge amounted to £2 to £3 over nine months because of a software error at three pumps.

Customers have been offered a refund or can opt for the money to go to charity.

A Tesco spokesman said the error was spotted during a routine test at the Ystrad Mynach garage last autumn. The fault meant less fuel was dispensed than was paid for by customers who used the affected pumps from 26 October, 2007 to 7 July last year. It meant the supermarket had to undertake the "lengthy process" of checking pumps at a further 72 of its service stations which use the same software.

After no other faults were found, the company was able to trace customers who used the Ystrad Mynach branch using their Tesco Clubcards and credit cards. One driver who lives in Cardiff and used to work near Ystrad Mynach received a letter from the supermarket which offered a refund of 80p. "It's good of Tesco to own up to it, but I'm not going to go all the way to Ystrad Mynach to get my money back," she said. "I'd spend more than 80p in petrol just to drive there, so I'm happy to see them giving it to good causes. "I suppose Tesco could have stayed quiet about this and just kept all the money, so well done to them for owning up to it. "But you do wonder whether it ever happens anywhere else and we never find out about it."

UK, Blackpool. Smoke sets home on fire filling petrol tank

Fire crews have issued a warning about the dangers of using petrol indoors after a man had a lucky escape from a ferocious house fire. The incident happened at a house on Kentmere Drive, Merseyside. It is thought the resident was refuelling a garden strimmer in the doorway to his living room when the fire broke out.

Fire crews say it is suspected the petrol was accidentally ignited by a cigarette. The man managed to escape and raised the alarm, but the fire ripped through the property, causing severe damage. He was taken to Blackpool Victoria Hospital suffering the effects of smoke inhalation. Watch manager Pete Langley, from South Shore Fire Station, said: "It only took us four-and-a-half minutes to get to the scene from when we got the initial call. "In that time the fire had completely engulfed the front room and spread upstairs. It had spread so fast. "It was well alight and quite ferocious. "The occupant was very lucky. He had managed to get out and had some smoke inhalation, but other than that was not injured.

He did go to hospital just to be checked over. "The downstairs of the house was completely destroyed and there was severe smoke damage to the upstairs. "People don't appreciate just how dangerous petrol can be. It's the fumes which ignite. "We urge people to take extra care when dealing with petrol and to never smoke or have a naked flame anywhere near petrol. "If it ignites, it spreads so rapidly. It can be lethal." Fire crews from Forest Gate and South Shore attended the blaze, along with Police, and were there for two hours.

UK, Birmingham. Bonfire man suffers severe burns

A man in his 50s has suffered serious burns after an accident involving a bonfire in Birmingham, the ambulance service said. The service was called to a property off Lordswood Road, Harborne. A man had reportedly dropped a canister of petrol by a bonfire and it had ignited causing burns to his legs, lower back, right hand and his side. The man was helped by people at the scene before being taken to hospital. A spokesman said: "He had been taken inside by other people at the property and was having water put on the burns when the crews arrived. "They treated him with burns packs before taking him on blue lights to the specialist burns unit at Selly Oak Hospital."

UK, Northampton. Car crashes through busy petrol station forecourt

A major explosion was averted when a car left a main road in Northamptonshire and crashed through a busy petrol station forecourt. Police and the fire service were called out to the BP garage on the A43 Brackley Road when a Mercedes car left the carriageway. After careering over the grass embankment, it collided with some gas pipes, causing the vapour to be released.

However, a police spokesman later confirmed there had been no danger to the public, and the male driver was only slightly injured. Police, firefighters and paramedics were alerted to the scene but the car, which was a Mercedes C Class, had not caused as much damage as was initially feared. Eyewitness Daniel Ewen, aged 29, said he was visiting the adjacent McDonalds restaurant when he saw the accident happen. He said: "The gentleman involved said his brakes had failed. "He was travelling from the Brackley

direction and there was a traffic jam in front of him. "He said the car would not stop so he had gone to go up the slip road to the petrol station but it went up the embankment and straight into the forecourt. "It tore out some of the gas pipes so there was gas billowing from some of the bottles for about 10 minutes which eventually ran out. "It made a massive noise; the bang was colossal."

UK, Hertfordshire. Buncefield back to petrol storage

Part of the Buncefield oil storage depot in Hertfordshire, UK, has now been granted approval to store petrol on site. Planning restrictions have been lifted which limited BP to storing only aviation fuel until now. An explosion ruptured the terminal in December 2005, injuring 40 people and damaging residential and business properties. It was caused by an overflowing fuel storage tank at the HOSL depot.

Dacorum Borough Council and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) say that energy company BP has met all safety criteria. The council formally signed off safety works undertaken by BP following a year of inspections by the council HSE and Environment Agency to check BP had met 55 safety criteria set out in a legal agreement drawn up in February 2008. BP spokeswoman Sheila Williams says BP has taken on board all the requests made by the local council and residents, resulting in BP investing over £10 million (€7.9 million) at the terminal.

UK, Buncefield. Total liable for Buncefield blast

Claims following the blast are said to amount to more than £750m.

The High Court has ruled that the oil company Total is liable for damages caused by the explosion at the Buncefield oil depot in Hertfordshire. The Hemel Hempstead site was the scene of an explosion which injured 40 people and left homes and businesses damaged. The blast in 2005 was the largest in Europe since the end of World War II. The depot was owned by Total and Chevron in a joint venture called Hertfordshire Oil Storage Ltd (HOSL), but was operated by Total. The ignition of the vapour cloud which followed the spillage of 300 tons of petrol, caused an explosion which measured 2.4 on the Richter Scale.

The High Court hearing was over a dispute between Total and Chevron as to who was liable for the agreed acts of negligence that led to the spillage and explosion. Chevron claimed Total was to blame, while Total said the joint venture company HOSL should bear responsibility. The court said Total had failed to discharge the burden of establishing that HOSL was responsible for the negligence of the supervisor.

It found that all those working at the site had contracts with Total; the terminal manager who was the most senior member of staff on site was appointed by Total and line managed by Total. All safety instructions were developed by Total. The court also found there was a further contributory fault due to the failure by Total's head office staff to develop an adequate system for preventing the overfilling of a tank. It also said Total was not entitled to recover a contractual indemnity from HOSL or Chevron in respect of all or any part of the claim.

UK, Charge her up, UK petrol stations to go electric

London's abandoned petrol stations are to be converted to charge electric cars, it was revealed.

An American firm is planning to transform dozens of empty stations. They will have airport-style waiting lounges where drivers can buy food or coffee.

Evoasis is setting up the first electriccar garage in Grovesnor Road, Pimlico, where up to 12 bays with high-power outlets will be able to recharge a battery in about 20 minutes. A further five stations will be established by the end of the year. Simon Lloyd, spokesman for Evoasis, said the firm would share profits from the scheme with the owners of each site.

The firm is in talks with supermarkets such as Tesco to install charging points for shoppers. It is also discussing installing charging points with Westminster council, which already has 60 - 12 on the street and 48 in car parks. "If electric cars take off, then a lot of these charging points will be needed," said Richard Barrett of EPR, the architect who designed the stations. "If you are charging at home then it can take up to eight hours. However, these stations can do the job in 20 minutes." When drivers first plug in their cars, an electronic diagnostic system will work out the model and type of battery.

An average electric car such as the G-Wiz, which costs about £8,000 and has a range of 40 miles, will cost about £2 to recharge, Evoasis said. The firm is also planning to allow drivers to download music and films. "Recent models allow us to access the entertainment system, so from the lounge you could buy music and have it downloaded straight to your car," said Mr Barrett.

Mayor Boris Johnson is considering an electric-car hire plan for London that would require thousands of power points. The plan mirrors a Paris scheme, Autolib, which will be in place by the end of the year. Modelled on its bicycle-hire scheme, Autolib will see 4,000 electric cars sited across the French capital and its suburbs. Drivers will be able to use them at any time.

Sales of electric cars are small because of a lack of charging points. In a Commons written answer, transport minister Jim Fitzpatrick said 4,929 battery-powered vehicles had been registered since 2004, and 1,322 took to the UK´s roads last year.

UK, Yorkshire. Petrol deal pumps up York based Costcutter

York based supermarket chain Costcutter has clinched an important deal to continue to supply Murco, the UK forecourt division of US-based Murphy Oil, which now operates 212 Costcutter sites on its petrol forecourts. Murco has been supplied by Costcutter for the past 12 years, with business developing successfully over this time, and the new contract has been agreed to run until June 2012.

The deal is expected to generate a turnover through Costcutter in the region of £100m a year. Since its original partnership agreement started with Costcutter in 1996, Murco has greatly expanded its UK store estate, most recently towards the end of 2008. In September 2008, Murco established its first presence in Scotland with the purchase of seven sites in the West Lothian and Falkirk areas. In October, the acquisition was

announced of 62 Petrol Express forecourts, throughout England and Wales. Nick Ivel, Costcutter managing director, commented: “We are delighted with the outcome of our negotiations with Murco, and that we will continue to work with them to further develop their forecourt stores. “Costcutter has a package for retailers which cannot be matched by any other symbol group, a fact which is confirmed by this result.

The Costcutter Supermarkets Group operates a franchise operation with more than 1,500 convenience stores throughout the UK. In slightly more than 21 years the group has grown from seven retailers to 1,500-plus. The firm offers more than 200 own-brand products sitting alongside famous names such as Birds Eye, Walkers, Cadbury, McCain, Andrex and many more.

UK, North Yorkshire, Haxby. ‘Bomb’ discovered at Haxby petrol station

A Bomb disposal squad went to York after an unexploded shell was discovered at a petrol station. The bomb, which was ten inches long and three inches round, was discovered at Station Garage, in Station Road, Haxby, during building work.

North Yorkshire Police were alerted at 11.45am on February 20th and immediately threw a cordon around the area, closing Station Road. A police spokesman said: “We are awaiting advice from the army's bomb disposal unit, which is on the way. “Shells have been found here before because this is next to the railway station where shells were loaded and unloaded for Strensall Barracks“. The garage is closed at present for the building work so there is no danger with the petrol pumps. The public have been asked to avoid the area.

UK, Company prosecuted for firework breach

West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service has welcomed a sentence imposed by a District Judge sitting at the Leeds Magistrates’ Court after 1st Storage UK Ltd breached health and safety regulations. 1st Storage UK Ltd admitted an offence under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 for breach of Regulation 11 (8) of the Manufacture and Storage of Explosives Regulations 2005 (MSER) at a hearing before Leeds magistrates on 15 April, 2009. The company was fined £750 and prosecution costs of £1,000 were awarded to West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority.

At the time of the offence in 2007, 1st Storage UK Ltd operated from a site at Unit 1 Holmecroft, York Road, Leeds. It provided containers for businesses and individuals to hire out for storage purposes. The company had been registered to store fireworks at the site since July 2000.

The registration regime places a statutory limit on the quantity of explosives which can be kept on the site and in this case allowed the storage of a maximum of 250kg net explosive content of Hazard Type Four fireworks. Explosives inspectors from West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service seized fireworks weighing 468.86kg by net explosive content. – 87 per cent in excess of that allowed under the terms of the registration regime.

West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service Senior Explosives Inspector, Roger Marris, said: “The fire and rescue authority considered this was a serious breach of the regulations, therefore we welcome the sentence.

“The risk in the event of fire was not only to the employees, but also to the general public who hired the containers and to the fire-fighters who would have attended. Had the 455kg present in one of the units been involved in a fire, such an event would produce immense volumes of thick and acrid smoke which could have engulfed the whole of the storage compound, thereby putting the safety of people both on and off site at risk. There would have been the additional hazard from fragment throw and the projectile effects of the fireworks.”

UK, Nottingham. Petrol leak ignited causing severe burns

A scrap yard employee received severe burns after being engulfed in flames when a petrol leak ignited.

Nottingham magistrate’s court heard that on 26 August 2006, a 56-year old man was using a cutting torch to strip parts from a car, just a few metres away from a colleague, who was filling a different vehicle with fuel using a petrol receiving unit.

The man noticed that the petrolreceiving unit was leaking and had created a large pool of petrol on the surrounding ground. He walked over to his colleague to point out the leak, which he thought was a result of a control lever being placed in the wrong position. As he approached, his colleague began operating a cutting torch, causing sparks to spread across the yard and igniting the petrol and the man’s trousers.

The victim received severe burns to 17% of his body. As a result, he spent five weeks in hospital and underwent two skin grafts. He has been unable to return to work since the incident.

His employer, Phoenix Auto Parts 2000 Ltd, pleaded guilty on 5 November 2008 to breeching Regulations 6 (3) and 5 (1) of the Dangerous Substances & Explosives Atmospheres Regulations 2002 (DSEAR). The court handed the firm a fine of £2,000 and ordered it to pay costs of £2,375.

In mitigation, the company showed remorse for the incident and revealed it had already paid the victim compensation through a civil case. It stated that new safety measures had been put in place at the yard since the accident and it had stopped using cutting torches. It said the accident was the result of an oversight of its health and safety procedures. It also admitted failure to recognise the risks of operating the torches in close proximity to the petrol remover. The firm has since appointed a yard manager, who is responsible for carrying out weekly safety checks on the site.

HSE Inspector Francis Bailey said “This serious accident could have been prevented if cutting operations and any other sources of ignition had been separated from the handling of petrol. This could have been achieved by either maintaining a minimum separation distance or managing work to ensure employees carried out these activities at different times”.

UK, Milton Keynes. Firefighters stop blaze spreading from gas cylinders

A fire in a store of flammable liquids could have exploded into a massive inferno. But fire crews from three city fire stations brought the Bleak Hall blaze under control. The firefighters from Great Holm, Bletchley and Broughton were called to the scene on Summerson Road.

There they were faced with six liquid petroleum gas (LPG) cylinders which had caught alight. It had already spread to the nearby single storey units and

vehicles. A Bucks Fire spokesman said: "They were at the scene for more than two hours. "They removed a number of other cylinders - containing highly flammable acetylene - nearby to a safe place. "Once heated acetylene cylinders have to have a cordon placed around them for up to 24 hours because they can explode and travel a considerable distance." Four units in the building and five vehicles outside were damaged by the blaze. An investigation is underway to establish how it started.

France, Loire Atlantique, Donges. Fire risk as wrong fuel delivered

Jan 2009 - An error at an oil refinery has placed at least 2,000 homes in the west of France at risk of boiler fires. A mistake in the fuel mixture at the Total refinery in Donges in the LoireAtlantique has resulted in extraflammable heating oil being delivered to homes between January 15-19. Some 2.5 million litres of domestic heating fuel are thought to have been contaminated with petrol and delivered to six wholesalers including SFDM – which in turn carries out home fuel deliveries.

The resulting mixture is stronger than normal heating oil with highly flammable vapour. The problem has hit homes in the Brittany and Pays de la Loire regions. A spokesman for Total recommended that affected households should not use their boilers. SFDM have compiled a list of homes where fuel was delivered since the incident and has been carrying out visits to empty and clean heating systems. Total has announced that it will foot the full cost of the bill. One homeowner said: “Are they going to compensate us for a week without heating and hot water?” In March, 2008 the same oil refinery at Donges was responsible for the leakage of 400 tonnes of oil into the Loire river. The accident produced oil slicks around the l'île de Ré and the l'île d'Oléron as well as the river.

Kilimanjaro climb

Director of Fairbanks Environmental, Bob Conlin recently completed a trek to the summit of Mt Kilimanjaro in aid of the Alzheimer’s Society. “It was a gruelling as well as uplifting experience and I would highly recommend the challenge as a way to raise money for such a worthwhile cause”, says Bob. He would like to thank all those who have generously supported his endeavour by contributing towards his sponsorship total of over £6,500. Bob is already considering his next expedition.

Iceland strides toward a hydrogen economy

Global economic crises underscores urgency of the goal, even as it delays progress.

It looks much like any other filling station: Shell-branded gasoline pumps lined up before a brightly lit convenience store on the shoulder of a busy highway. But this is the hub of one of Iceland’s most ambitious projects, an obligatory stop for visiting foreign dignitaries that offers a glimpse of what might be the future of human transportation.

This is no ordinary Shell station. Just to one side, where you might expect to find diesel pumps, stands the world’s first commercial hydrogen fueling station. Pull up in your hydrogenpowered car, swipe your credit card, attach the pump fixture, and in five minutes you’ll be back on the road, your tank full of emissions-free fuel produced right at the filling station from water and sustainably generated electricity.

“It’s a completely green car, with only water coming out of the tailpipe,” says Jon Bjorn Skulason, general manager of Icelandic New Energy, who drives one of the city’s 14 hydrogen-fueled vehicles. “If we complete our plans, we will be a zero-emissions society. We would not have to import fuel from foreign sources, and we would be 100 percent sustainable, which must be the true future of the world.”

While many countries talk about sustainable energy and reducing greenhouse-gas emissions, Iceland is committed to weaning itself off fossil fuels altogether by the middle of the century. Instead of importing oil to power its cars and fishing vessels, this remote island nation of 300,000 plans to power them like everything else here: with electricity from hydroelectric and geothermal plants.

In recent decades, Icelanders have harnessed melt-water from massive ice sheets and the steam that pours from its volcano-dotted landscape, which together generate virtually all the island’s heat and electricity. In the dead of winter, Icelanders use geothermal heat to grow bananas in frost-covered greenhouses, and to warm the streets and sidewalks of central Reykjavík.

“Our power plants are essentially processing water,” says Eirikur Hjalmarsson, spokesman for Reykjavík Energy. Its geothermal power plants have become tourist attractions. “Since we’re generating electricity from renewable sources, it may make sense to use it to power vehicles.”

The government’s plan, announced in 1998, is to replace fossil fuels with hydrogen. Together with Daimler AG, Shell, Norsk Hydro, and local utilities and research institutions, they created Icelandic New Energy, the company charged with spearheading the effort. The Shell station opened in 2003, serving the needs of three experimental hydrogen fuel-cell buses that plied the streets of Reykjavík for four years without incident. Hydrogen-fueled cars followed in late 2007, and were joined by a fuel cell-equipped passenger vessel last year.

“We haven’t found any major problems with the operation of a hydrogen economy with buses, cars, or ships,” says Icelandic New Energy’s Mr. Skulason. “If somebody were to say to me today, ‘I’ll bring 20,000 hydrogen cars to Iceland every year for the next five years at the same cost as a conventional car,’ it would not be a problem for us.”

But the project, which aimed to convert the country to hydrogen by 2040, is several years behind schedule, due to delays in automobile manufacturers’ roll-out of the next generation of hydrogen vehicles, which the global recession will only make worse. Iceland’s own financial collapse has not only delayed the building of additional fueling stations, Skulason says, but has also underscored the need to develop domestic fuel supplies.

The idea is to use electricity generated by geothermal (steam) and hydro plants to power cars. While plugin electric cars might be sensible for Reykjavík commuters, long-distance travelers, fishermen, and aircraft pilots have power and range requirements that can’t be practically served by battery storage alone, says Bragi Arnason, the University of Iceland chemist who first conceived Iceland’s “hydrogen experiment.”

“You will use electricity wherever you can, but batteries do not have a sufficient range – maybe 200 or 300 kilometers [124 to 186 miles],” he says, requiring that the electricity be stored in another, more intensive form. “Most experts agree that hydrogen is