Motorists queue for fuel conversion

THE rocketing price of petrol and diesel has prompted a huge increase in the number of motorists converting their cars to run on cheap LPG fuel, Scotland on Sunday can reveal.

The number of conversions has doubled in the past six months and backlogs of up to two months are building for the work, despite a hefty price tag of around £2,000.

But at less than 60p a litre, the savings to be made from running a car on LPG mean the price of conversion can be paid off in as little as a year.

An estimated 25,000 cars will be converted to run on LPG in the UK this year, more than double the total for 2007.

Drivers of large petrol-engined 4x4s are among the most desperate to change to LPG fuel, which was selling in Glasgow last week for as little as 51.9p a litre and no more than 64.9p a litre.

LPG is a mixture of hydrocarbon gases like propane or butane, and comes from the separation of natural gas products or the refining of crude oil. Although its price has increased over the past year by about 10p a litre, its low fuel duty still puts it at half the price of a litre of petrol at 114.7p or diesel at 127.6p.

An LPG conversion has almost no effect on a car's performance and the steel tank is safer than a plastic petrol tank in an accident. Despite a 25% reduction in miles per gallon, £10 of LPG takes a car one and a half times further than £10 of petrol.

The fuel is popular with environmentally minded drivers as it produces 20% less carbon dioxide than petrol, although the LPG tank reduces boot space.

Now the LPG revolution is hitting drivers of larger cars who can afford the boot space but not the soaring price of petrol. An LPG conversion could also get 4x4s around the new 'green' tax rating system with £300 slapped on polluting cars, announced in March's Budget.

Chris Taylor, of national LPG supplier Autogas, said: "The general awareness and demand for LPG is up, and it's been getting progressively more popular for the last six months. We are inundated with inquiries about getting conversions done."

Taylor added that while 12,000 conversions were made in the UK last year, this year 14,000 had been done by the end of June alone and he expected 25,000 cars to be converted in 2008 overall.

LPG installer Clarkson Autogas in Glasgow is booked until the end of September for LPG fittings. Owner David Clarkson said: "The majority of cars we get are large six or eight-cylinder engines, although there are a number of smaller engines like Mondeos and Hondas coming through as well."

Big savings for LPG converts