CLASSICS WILL BE SPARED E10 FIRE RISK FUEL
Club campaigners hail decision to keep low-ethanol petrol at the pumps – but there are worries about higher prices
You won’t have to fill up your pride and joy with petrol that’s linked to component damage – and, in worst case scenarios, fires – when it is rolled out across the UK in September.
Higher-ethanol E10 fuel will be sold on most forecourts, but premium petrol will retain the current lower ethanol level.
All Party Parliamentary Historic Vehicles Group chair, Sir Greg Knight MP, said: ‘The chief concern has been to ensure the provision of a classic-usable fuel across forecourts in Britain. I am very pleased that this has now been confirmed.’
Petrol that includes more ethanol – linked to component damage in older vehicles and, in the worst cases, fires
– will be rolled out in the
UK from September, but classic owners won’t have to use it.
The Department for Transport said that ‘E10’ fuel, so called because of its maximum bioethanol content of ten per cent, will replace the current ‘E5’ petrol at most forecourts from September. However, lobbying from classic owners, led by the Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs (FBHVC), has meant that the lower-ethanol fuel will be made available in ‘super unleaded’ pumps. An exemption will also be made for areas where two grades of fuel are seldom available, such as the Scottish Highlands.
FBHVC communications director, Wayne Scott, said: ‘The critical aspect the Federation needed to see was the continued availability of the E5 Protection Grade with an obligation on forecourts to stock it.
‘This is exactly the commitment made by the government to the Federation last year and is a good result in our eyes. We expect it to be widely available and with compulsory labelling, historic vehicle owners should be able to identify the fuel on forecourts.’
Owners of dailydriven classics, forced on to the protection grade fuel as a safety precaution, aren’t as happy as the FBHVC, owing to the higher costs per litre of E5.
The Petrol Retailers Association’s Technical Director, Phil Monger, said that the difference in cost between E10 and E5 would be less than that spent by motorists during the leaded to unleaded switchover in 1999, when owners of incompatible cars had to pay out for additives.
The All-Party Parliamentary Historic Vehicles Group (APPHVG), which had made representations to transport secretary, Grant Shapps MP, said that the result was a good move, although it recognised that it could make filling up more expensive.
APPHVG chair, Sir Greg Knight MP, said: ‘ Whilst it is expected that this fuel will cost more than E10, most classics are not used for high mileage. The chief concern has been to ensure the continued provision of a classic-usable fuel across forecourts in Britain. I am pleased that this has been confirmed.’
YouTuber, Steph Holloway, who drives a 1971 Morris Marina, said: ‘Many young drivers in classics will be the casualty of the new standard unleaded because they’re the drivers most likely to pick the cheaper fuel.
‘The government needs to make all drivers aware of what this will mean for the everyday older car motorist and buyers will need to be wary when purchasing classic and retro runarounds because you’ll have no real idea without fuel receipts as to what previous owners have put into the car.’