- guardian.co.uk, Friday November 10 2000 03.35 GMT
The Guardian yesterday visited several stations to hunt for the greener fuel. The first stop, at a Texaco station on Clerkenwell Road, central London, offered doughnuts, gourmet coffee and a jet wash but there was no sign of ultra-low sulphur petrol. "We'll get it in a couple of weeks," the sales assistant said. "A lot of our customers have asked for it today."
Twenty minutes later, in Kennington, south London, at a BP station, Salimonu Adegoroye had just filled up his Mercedes with "unleaded" petrol. Until yesterday he had never heard of ULSP. "I've got no need to change. But if I saw it, I'd buy it," he said. The fore court manager said Mr Adegoroye's purchase was USLP. But it is labelled Cleaner Unleaded on the pump. So is it cheaper? "No, not yet. But after what the chancellor said, it will be," he said.
At a nearby Texaco station, the sales assistant has not heard of the greener petrol. "You just mean unleaded, yeah?". He suggested trying "the Esso up the road."
Many petrol companies have chosen not to brand the fuel as a different product from their unleaded petrol, which has confused many of their customers about exactly what they are putting in their tanks.
A spokeswoman for Shell, who make ULSP in its own refineries, said: "There's no reason to rebrand it. It's effectively the next generation of unleaded."
More than half of Sainsbury's petrol stations one of the first companies to stock the low-sulphur petrol in 1998 - now sell it. "It's not a niche market. We sell it as our standard unleaded fuel," a spokesman said.
Six hundred of TotalFinalElf's 1,400 stations in the UK have stocked the greener fuel since October. The company is one of the few who have branded it USLP. "It replaces unleaded fuel. We stock one or the other," a spokeswoman said.
Consumer ignorance about whether the pump marked "unleaded" contains USLP, is not helped by the fact that they are not benefiting from the 1p cut that the chancellor pledged in October. Many petrol companies, including TotalFinalElf have failed to pass on the cut, arguing that it is more expensive to produce than 'old' unleaded petrol. "The current 1p concession barely covers the cost of the manufacturing and marketing expenses," the spokeswoman said.
The speech in full
Part 1: the economy
Part 2: the fiscal stance
Part 3: families and pensioners
Related stories
8 November 2000: Pensioners call at No 10 - Guardian
8 November 2000, explained: the pre-budget report
8 November 2000, analysis: My friends the truckers - Leanda de Lisle
Related special report: welfare reform
Related special report: New Labour in power
Related special report: the petrol war
Useful links
Campaign - People's Fuel Lobby
Key player - the Road Haulage Association
Key player - Freight Taxes.com
Key player - National pensioners convention
Budgets and pre-budgets since 1994 - HM Treasury
