The Bulletin Magazine - March 2008

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The Bulletin Journal of the Association for Petroleum and Explosives Administration

50th Anniversary 1958 - 2008

March 2008

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Editorial

Contents Regulars

Brian Baker

Chairman’s Report

4

Editor’s Report

5

Business Manager’s Report

6

The APEA celebrates 50 Years of Petroleum Administration

7

Letters to the Editor

8

New APEA Members

11

News

15

Editor 52 Milton Grove Bletchley Milton Keynes MK3 5BH tel:

+44 (0) 1908 252332

fax:

+44 (0) 1908 252319

mob:

+44 (0) 7932 785166

e-mail: brian.baker@miltonkeynes.gov.uk Press Releases

32

Articles

Jamie Thompson

Why do all petrol stations look the same?

33

Publishing Chairman

APEA 2008 Conference, Exhibition and Awards Dinner

39

70 Wangford Road

Model Licensing (Application) Forms

39

Do you know if your Stage II Vapour Recovery Solution is working correctly 40 High Blend Ethanol fuels E85

44

Car Valeting Services - on a forecourt near you.....

46

History of Petrol Stations Part 5 - Churchill’s Departmental Committee Report on Petroleum Spirit (Section One)

50

Training in the Kingdom of Bahrain

54

Interview with Anton Martiniussen, Elaflex Ltd

58

Addendum to approve code of practice and guidance for the unloading of petrol from road tankers

61

APEA 2009 Yearbook Registration

62

Reydon Southwold Suffolk IP18 6NX Tel/fax: +44 (0) 1502 722999 Mobile: +44 (0) 7770 625851 email: jamiethompson@ukonline.co.uk

Jane Mardell Business Manager (including Bulletin Advertising

Branches Branch reports

and Production) 62

PO Box 106 Saffron Walden Essex CB11 3XT

Training 2008 course dates and booking details

68

United Kingdom Tel/fax: +44 (0) 845 603 5507

Obituary Karlheinz Ehlers

Mobile: +44 (0) 7815 055514 70

email:

admin@apea.org.uk

Front Cover - Al Seef Service Station Bahrain

Published by the Association for Petroleum and Explosives Administration A company Limited by Guarantee registered in England No. 2261600 Opinions expressed in this Journal are not necessarily the views of the Association.

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Chairman’s Report Looking forward in 2008 I hope 2008 has started well for you and that it continues positively throughout the year. As is no doubt the same for you, a busy and challenging year lies ahead for our Association and I am pleased to report that plans for our 50th Anniversary celebrations are well underway. So I would like to dedicate ‘my space’ in this issue to giving you a flavour of the events, initiatives and issues to which the Association will apply itself during the year.

We will be returning to Telford on 23rd October to hold our main event of the year, when we hope to indulge a little on the past history, the improvements and legacy which the work of our members has so successfully achieved. There is definitely a limit on display space and dinner places so please book early. We have listened to your feedback and the event will be all the better for it. Whilst costs have inevitably risen we will be keeping the day delegate rate the same as last year. The conference is being confined to a morning session allowing more time for the exhibition and networking and we are moving the AGM from early morning to later in the day to enable more of you to attend. Following the success in securing an excellent keynote speaker last time, our Editor Brian Baker is hard at work lining up another high profile guest speaker to open the conference. I would like to highlight the APEA Awards in particular so will give them their own paragraph.

APEA Awards We are delighted to report that we have a full compliment of awards sponsors this year, which to me confirms the importance and profile which our industry members have put on this initiative, still in its infancy.

Thank you again to all our sponsors for contributing to the financial success of the event, (we still need you, the members, to turn up). We will be simplifying the application process this year and clarifying the judging criteria with the aim of encouraging many more entries. So my plea is that you take time to review the award categories when they are announced in May, and consider self nominating or nominating other individuals or organisations. I am convinced that there are many members who are innovating, delivering excellent customer service and quality, creating even safer working environments, but who take their efforts for granted. Please don’t ….. please step forward and be noticed and acknowledged for your achievements.

To recognise the contributions from the smaller enterprises the APEA council 4

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have agreed to sponsor one additional award this year. We are yet to finalise the details but it is intended for those with between 1 – 10 employees.

Marking 50 years I hope you enjoyed receiving our commemorative 2008 calendar. Our thanks to Jamie and Jane for bringing together what is a very stylish design.

Work is under way by our team of volunteer authors to compile a magazine celebrating 50 years of petroleum retailing and enforcement.

You will receive your free copy later in the year.

Branch activities Our branch committees are busy organising this years meetings and visits and they will be doing their part to help celebrate our 50th anniversary. We have allocated some additional financial support to the branches to enable them to put on a higher profile event, so please check out the website calendar and make sure that we have your email address so that our business manager Jane Mardell can update you with branch event news. An idea from one of the branches which was raised at last months council meeting was to encourage every member to ‘bring a friend’ who would be a potential new member. This is an excellent idea and one which I feel the NW branch may well be adopting as well.

Effective Liaison The APEA is fairly unique in the way it convenes members who represent all of the factions within the petroleum retailing industry.

I have counted over 22 bodies represented in the UK alone and there will be many more. We have therefore recently set about establishing a national council member as a contact point for each body or organisation.

Their details will be published soon.

Amongst other responsibilities they will aim to raise awareness of the work of each organisation with featured articles in the Bulletin over the coming issues.

Fireworks The involvement of the explosives industry, whilst having an historical connection, has for some time been raised as an issue needing attention.

Fortunately I was approached by John Brooks at Essex Trading Standards who offered to facilitate a link up with the British Fireworks Association. So along with our Fireworks liaison Ian Hillier, we hope to set up an introduction to assess the benefits of a closer alliance with either the BFA directly or its individual members. Following on from this I hope we can engage the wider explosives industry.

APEA tel/fax 0845 603 5507

Getting involved As I enter my final period as Chairman, tie up some unfinished business and prepare to hand over to our next Chairman, Gareth Bourhill, I reflect on the static composition, with some exceptions, of our branch committees and national council. Whilst we are ever grateful to those usual suspects who give freely of their time, our Association will only thrive and continue to engage its membership if what we involve ourselves in is current, relevant and fresh. This therefore needs a constant influx of new blood, so please do think about getting involved and do put yourselves forward at branch or national level. I for one would be willing to step aside to make way for new volunteers; this is no closed shop and I am definitely not a cronie (yet).

We share our celebrations with the opening of the Preston Bypass, otherwise known as the M6, Britain’s first motorway; we mourn the passing of Sir Edmund Hillary, who when asked

why he kept on wanting to conquer new challenges, confessed, 'I was always too restless and life was a constant battle against boredom'; and we hear about the achievements of my home city as Liverpool celebrates its status as European Capital of Culture.

I heard today some very pithy advice from, ‘In Defence of Food’ a book by Michael Pollan, which read, .. Eat food, Not too much, Mostly plants.

So finally as 2008 takes shape my pithy advice might be,.. Continually improve, With care and consultation, Recognise and celebrate the good.

Bob Conlin

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Editor’s Report Well it is here, the 50th Anniversary of

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anyway. Next thing you will expect petrol stations to be open 24 hours a day!”.

the Association and it causes me to reflect on what our forefathers would

How much is fuel? What is a litre? “I

have thought when a dozen of them or

am used to paying no more than 2

so met in a location in Birmingham in

shillings (10p) a gallon and not a penny

1958 to form this wonderful Association.

more otherwise I am taking my

Let us look at what they may have

business to that nice Mr Jones down

thought all those years ago and what

the road. You know the one that can sell

they would say today.

you some tyres or a battery if you need one. I think he also sells cigarettes.”

Would they have been comfortable

left! The last time I renewed my licence it was only 10 shillings for the year (50p)

with a risk assessment approach known

“Can you please let me have my

in the UK as DSEAR? How about

dipstick back as I like to know exactly

extortionate sum of £118.00 for a year

Attended Self Service where we let the

where I am when checking my petrol

or the added “luxury” of 3 times that for

public use the equipment and then they

stock. Also please do not take my latch

3 years – what a cheek!”

honestly go into a large shop and pay

pins away from my nozzles as I like to

without any questions asked? Would

keep them open when I am filling up

you buy petrol from a grocer? Why on

customer’s

earth would I buy a raffle (Lottery) Ticket

telephoning me automatically to get my

at the same time as buying my fuel?

wet stock information its like stealing

What happened to the Green Shield

and if you do I will call the Police!”.

cars.

By

the

way,

Stamps I normally collect! That bit of

now

you

want

me

to

pay

the

I cannot believe it, putting (LPG) gas into a car – huh! – What next, they will think they can put alcohol in it as well!

Anyway I am used to getting my newspaper from my newsagents, my

“Yes, we did have a spillage the other

bread from my local baker’s my local

day but we managed to sweep it away

delicatessen and grocer will expect me

By the way, I thought diesel was just

and a bit went down the drain which

to buy my food from there – not some

for lorries why are people putting it into

was helpful to tidy the place up and get

petrol station. I see they have another

cars? While I am looking round what is

rid of the smell. On that subject, I am

crazy idea - setting up petrol stations

that? (gesturing to an Automatic Teller

thinking of changing one of my

next to supermarkets – that will never

Machine = ATM).

underground tanks that is inside the car

catch on!

plastic to get points is no good to me.

showroom. That should not be a These are some of the things our

problem will it as we run the vent pipes

Such are some of the changes over

ancestors may be saying. Then there is

up the face of the building past all the

50 years. Doubtless to say there are

this Unattended Site open all night long

bedroom windows! I want one that is

many more that could be mentioned.

where you stick a plastic card into the

single skin steel type coated in

pump, press a few buttons and you can

bitumen. I cannot see the need for

Maybe someone out there has been a

get your fuel out – no questions asked –

having one tank inside the other. What

member over all of this time. If so

and no one in sight for miles. “Maybe I

is the point of that!”

please get in touch - we would love to

should fill some containers up while I am here as it seems a good time to do it while it is all quiet”

hear from you.

What is that thing on top of the vent stack? Looks like some one has

As for the year ahead, I will leave it to

plugged it up with a lump of metal which

others to inform you just what is in

Do you mean to tell me a petrol road

could be dangerous if the fumes cannot

store. Be rest assured this Association

tanker turns up on site when the owner

escape when the tanker delivers and

is in very good hands and as strong as

is not there and delivers all that fuel on

they want me to pay for a permit to fit it

ever so we hope we have great year

his own? You must be crazy! I certainly

and test it every year? What on earth is

packed with interesting activities that

do not want them to deliver petrol at that

going on at the town hall?

starts another 50 years.

time in the morning as we close at 6 o’clock in the evening and do not open

“Oh yes I see, we still have our

again until 8 o’clock tomorrow morning,

petroleum licence but where have all

of course we are closed on Sundays

the conditions gone there is hardly any

APEA tel/fax 0845 603 5507

Best Wishes Brian 5

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Business Manager’s Report I hope you all had a good Christmas and New Year, although it seems ages ago now, I hope you are recovered from any over indulgence!

2009 Yearbook With this issue of the Bulletin you will find a form that shows the contact details that we currently hold for you on the APEA Membership database and a table of ‘Trade Directories’. If you wish to be included in the 2009 Yearbook please complete the form by ticking the ‘Directories’ box that you wish to be listed under and then faxing the form to me on 0845 603 5507 or you can post it to the APEA office.

You receive one free ‘Classified’ entry which is your contact details and one free entry on the ‘Directories’ page. You can tick additional ‘Directory’ boxes but there is an additional charge for these which is detailed on the form.

Even if you do not wish to advertise in the Yearbook you need to complete the form and return it to me to be included in the Yearbook. I will record the details of everyone that has returned their form.

If you wish to have alternative contact details included in the Yearbook to the ones that are detailed on the form then please amend the form and return it to me.

As with every year, the forms need to be returned to me by 1st April in order for the diaries to be printed and distributed on 1st October.

Additional forms can be downloaded from the Publications page of the APEA website at www.apea.org.uk You can benefit from the following if you wish to advertise in the Yearbook: • All existing ‘Bulletin’ advertisers receive a 50% discount off the 2009 Yearbook rates • Any advertiser taking out a full page advert in the 2009 Yearbook is entitled to a Website banner free of charge for one year on the APEA Website • All APEA members are eligible for one free entry in the Classified listings and in the Trade Directory, please tick the relevant Trade Directory articles on the booking form If you wish to advertise please contact me for a booking form or you can download one from the Publications page of the APEA website.

2008 Membership Thanks to all of you that renewed your membership by 1st January. If you have not already done this I would be grateful if you can make your payment for 2008

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as soon as possible. This will help reduce the number of reminders that I send out each year.

This can be made by via the APEA website on the ‘Membership’ page, by cheque or by credit card.

Please contact me on 0845 603 5507 or by email at admin@apea.org.uk should you need assistance.

Bulletin Thank you to all of you that have contributed to this issue of The Bulletin.

Please send me any news items, press releases or articles for the June 2008 issue and I will pass them onto our Editor for approval.

We are always pleased to receive contributions from our members and it ensures that the Bulletin remains and interesting and informative read.

2008 Calendar I hope you all received the 2008 50th Anniversary Calendar that was posted in December to you. Thanks to all of you that have sent comments of praise for the publication.

Bulletin Advertising Thanks to all of you that renewed your advertising for the 2008 issues of the Bulletin and thanks to new advertisers too.

Remember that if you book in all four issues you receive a 25% discount and we are able to offer discounts for those of you that wish to book for more than one issue but less than four issues too.

The advertising rates remain unchanged for 2008 and are listed on our website on the ‘Publications’ page at www.apea.org.uk If you would like to book advertising in the Bulletin for 2008, please call me on 0845 603 5507 or email me at admin@apea.org.uk for a booking form.

Publications The Blue Book is available at the discounted rate of £40 to APEA members.

If you wish to purchase a copy please contact me on 0845 603 5507 and I will be able to provide you with details on obtaining a copy.

We also publish the Code of Practice for Ground floor, multi storey and underground car parks. This can now be downloaded directly from the APEA website.

APEA Members £11.00 Non APEA Members £21.00 Training Thanks to all of you that have booked on the APEA training courses.

The 2008 dates are detailed on page 68 of this issue of the Bulletin and are also on the APEA website at www.apea.org.uk where you can book

APEA tel/fax 0845 603 5507

online or download a booking form.

I am arranging bespoke courses for various companies which enables members to receive training at a discounted rate and at a time and location suitable to them.

If you are interested in hosting a bespoke course for your company please do not hesitate to contact me.

We can offer discounted rates for these courses if you are able to provide a venue and catering.

You can book online from the Training page on the APEA website at or you can download a booking form from our website training page, just click on the course you are interested in and the course details and form are displayed or please contact me by email or by phone and I can email you a copy.

Also anyone booking a training course now, that is not an APEA member will automatically receive membership to the APEA. New Members There have been 35 new members joining during October, November and December 2007 and details can be found on page 11.

Website The website continues to be a useful site for information and to make online bookings and payments. I am glad so many of you are using it.

If you wish to contribute anything to the site please feel free to log on and go to the APEA Resource Centre where you can submit your article for approval.

There is a ‘Help’ pull down menu if you need some assistance. If you need any assistance please do not hesitate to contact me.

You can also use the website to change your contact details, just logon and you will be able to access your record. If you cannot remember your logon details please contact me.

General Assistance Finally if any of you need any assistance with general or technical matters, please do not hesitate to contact me on 0845 603 5507 and I will endeavour to help.

Jane

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The APEA celebrates 50 YEARS of Petroleum Administration

By Jamie Thompson 50 years ago in April 1958 a group of local authority officers in the West Midlands formed the West Midlands Petroleum Acts Administration group. At that time there were sixty-six local authorities in that area responsible for administering the Petroleum Acts, and some 1500 nationally.

The need for this organisation grew up following the publication of the Home Office Model Code in 1957 and the necessity to both understand and apply this code uniformly across the region.

Many of those early participants came from a variety of local authority disciplines, building inspectors, weights and measures, engineers and surveyors, public health inspectors with some fire officers and even petroleum officers. Officers from Solihull, Walsall, Worcester, Kidderminster, Wolverhampton, Birmingham and Shrewsbury formed that first council.

They quickly recognised that they may well need the input from industry and introduced a membership group called Associates, which meant that industry members could contribute to the Association - but in those days could not vote.

The first Bulletin was produced in 1962 four years after the Association was formed and has continued to be the main voice of the Association and its members and continues to inform, and keep us up to date with technical articles.

After a few years other authorities outside the West Midlands saw the value of this organisation and in 1965 the group went national and became the Association for Petroleum Acts Administration (APAA) and at the AGM in 1965 branches were formed in the West Midlands, East Midlands, Oxfordshire and Surrey, Yorkshire, and Tees Side.

The value of training in those early days was soon recognised and a midweek residential school was set up at Attingham Park in Shrewsbury to discuss the codes and important safety aspect of petrol station construction,

Secretary at the time he worked hard and this soon became almost a must for and the membership gradually grew any budding petroleum officer and ran from a few hundred, as individual for several years. These were always members joined instead of the local oversubscribed and in 1965 there were authorities. It was also decided at an 140 applications for just 60 places!

AGM in St Albans to try and increase I certainly enjoyed attending this membership and widen our base so we school as a young inspector in 1966 chose to rename the Association the and met many like-minded students to Association for Petroleum & Explosives learn about petroleum in the wonderful Administration (APEA) as it was thought surroundings of the National Trust many of those involved in explosive and property Attingham Park, which was fireworks licence would help swell organised by Bob Holdaway. membership. An important decision was So we began to see the formation of also made to allow the former associate the Association more on the lines as members to become full members and you see it today, an organisation therefore have the voting rights we all supplying an information need, and a enjoy today. platform to discuss common interests, also supplying training and now with Early Bulletin Photographs branches not only in the UK but in Europe also.

The first Association trips to E u r o p e began in the 1960’s with visits to a refinery in France and m o r e famously a visit to Hamburg to see the first Here a discussion on the merits of the first self service site in Colchester self-service The first Bulletins were typed and sites in Germany and the various produced on Gestetner duplicating stories I heard led me to believe that the machines and eventually by the Local early membership had a great time.

Authority printing press to a very high The Association membership grew to standard. Many of the early editions around 1500 and it was mostly local were available in bound copies but after petroleum licensing authorities (PLA’s) the 1974 reorganisation money was in that joined with only a few individuals. short supply and as Editor in 1979 I was Many forecast the demise of the limited to around £200 for one edition Association due to the 1974 local and we had to cut corners by typing government reorganisation when the each page (no computers in those numbers of Petroleum Licensing days) and getting it photographed onto Authorities were reduced drastically a plate for printing. After 23 years as from 1500 to 69.

Editor perhaps the best investment we Although the changes became more made during that time was to employ effective for petroleum enforcement, it Jane who now manages everything on proved to be a very difficult time for the her computer enabling the Editor much Association over the next few years. more time to seek articles and edit.

John Frid was a very able Hon

APEA tel/fax 0845 603 5507

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storage and many other aspects no l o n g e r covered today.

The other change the Association has seen which was adopted on 25 May 1988 was to change the A photo of students at Attingham Park watching a fire extinguisher demonstration in 1963 APEA to a company The move to have a photograph on limited by guarantee; this was carried the front cover has over the years kept out under the able stewardship of members interest and they have Adrian Levett. contributed with a number of Apart from the activities mentioned photographs of petrol pumps, filling we also have produced a number of stations, tanks etc, long may it continue.

Codes of Practice, certainly two codes We should also perhaps remember on Petrol Station Construction before that apart from petrol stations many of the current Blue Books, one on Petrol the PLA’s looked after Carbide of Can Storage and two on Car Parks.

Calcium (acetylene generation) Car parks, Bulk storage at distribution depots, inspection of road tankers, can

Training from the early days has changed to meet today’s needs and

Letters to the Editor

Comment regarding APEA 2008 Calendar

Sir Thank you very much for your very kind donation of £2,151.40, given in memory of the late Paul Craven.

On behalf of Cancer Research UK, I would like to offer my sincere condolences to you and your co workers. I hope that you can take some consolation at this time from the knowledge that your gift will go towards our research into the causes, treatment and prevention of cancer.

At Cancer Research UK, our worldclass doctors and scientists are working together to push through new and effective treatments for cancer faster than ever before, and to prevent more people from developing the disease.

If you would like further information on the work of Cancer Research UK, please do not hesitate to contact me, or your local Area Volunteer Manager, Chloe Higgins, on the telephone number 0161 772 5555. Thank you again for thinking of Cancer Research UK at this difficult time.

Thanks Jane. Don't think anyone here can remember actually installing any of these pumps (except maybe June's Wayne) but certainly took a few out.

They'd be worth a fortune now....

Well done whoever put it together Regards Fraser Duffin Malthurst Ltd

Yours sincerely Mrs Nicola Sellers Fundraising Support Administrator Cancer Research UK 8

Jamie/Brian I would like to thank you for the great work you did to us, I have personally gained a lot from this training course and so too the others, I want to tell you that I have got excellent feedback from all the attendees. Please if you have analyzed the feedback forms share with me the results so I can show it to the management.

Regards Mohammed J Al-Asfoor Bahrain Petroleum Company (B.S.C) Brian Just a word of thanks for the recent APEA course in Luton. This together with the 'Construction etc' course of the previous week have served to give me more confidence, although I realise I still have much to learn.

APEA tel/fax 0845 603 5507

most members will be aware of the successful training courses run by the Association in a more modern way.

The Association has also run many conferences during its 50 years and many of you will remember the Queensway Hall in Dunstable. Our first exhibitor was Trevor Pardoe with his Fibersec GRP manhole chamber others were impressed so an Exhibition followed with Barry Thompson and Brian Taylor organising the exhibitions.

The move to Birmingham under Mike Lugg’s chairmanship also proved a milestone and for those who attended last years Conference Dinner at Telford we had our largest attendance ever of around 650 people at the dinner.

Celebrations during our 50th year will be advertised in your local branches and in the Bulletin please support them.

As for the future, new fuels and new challenges should ensure the continuation of this Association for many years to come Happy Anniversary!

Best Wishes Nick Evans Bristol City Council Sir “Further Testing Times – Ahead?”

Nothing ever stays still in our industry!

You are just starting to get used to one set of standards when Hey Presto another comes along and supersedes the one we were just starting to become familiar with.

The latest change is to the Euro norm BSEN 60079 Part 17 (Explosive Atmospheres: Electrical Installations Inspection and Maintenance).

Firstly we should be aware that many technical documents and tenders still refer to BS5345 which was made obsolete in favour of BSEN 60079 Part 17:2003 so still a few organisations need to update themselves.

The latest publication of BSEN 60079 Part 17:2007 (Explosive Atmospheres: Electrical Installations Inspection and Maintenance) was published on the 31st October 2007 and runs concurrently with the previous edition until full adoption of the 2007 document comes into force on the 1st September 2010.

So why the early warning!! Well all parties involved in the filling station and fuel storage business, or works on or inspects and maintains electrical installations or equipment or any

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Letters to the Editor/New Members business where there is a potentially explosive atmosphere should be made aware of the “Significant” Technical changes in the new document.

That the changes not only affect the inspector or those “Competent” persons actually carrying out the Inspection and Maintenance work, but also those persons supervising and ordering the work to take place so contractor and client alike.

So what are these Technical changes?

“Significant”

1)Additional requirements for inspection and maintenance of electrical installations for combustible dust are included.

2)Knowledge, skills and competencies of “Responsible Persons”, “Technical Persons with Executive Function”, and operatives are explained.

3)Equipment Protection Levels (EPLs) have been introduced and explained.

The main one is going to be point 2) where they have now clearly defined the competencies of those involved and the training deemed necessary.

The Health and Safety Executive will of course always seek to establish that all persons carrying out work are deemed “Competent” to do so.

I have listed below some of the main points that should be considered and I would encourage that a full copy of the standard is obtained from the British Standards Institute website at

http://www.bsi-global.com or phone their customer services on +44 (0)208996 9001.

4.2 Qualification of Personnel The Inspection and Maintenance of installations shall only be carried out by experienced personnel, whose training has included instruction on the various types of protection and installation practices, the requirements of this standard, the relevant National regulations/ company rules applicable to the installation and on the general principles of area classification.

Appropriate continuing education or training shall be undertaken by personnel on a regular basis. Evidence of the relevant training and experience claimed shall be available.

Annex B B.3 Competencies B.3.1 General Competencies shall apply to each of the explosion protection techniques for which the person is involved. For example; it is possible for a person to be competent in the field of inspection and maintenance of Ex”i” equipment and not be fully competent in the inspection and maintenance of Ex”d” switchgear or Ex”e” motors. In such cases that person’s management shall define this in their documentation system.

executive function and operatives shall be verified and attributed, at intervals not exceeding five years on the basis of sufficient evidence that the person; a)Has the necessary skills required for the scope of work. b)Can act competently across the specified range of activities and can c) Has the relevant knowledge understanding underpinning the competency.

In summary this new Standard clearly defines the roles of all those involved in Electrical Inspection and Maintenance in potentially explosive atmospheres and more importantly asks that the person is suitably trained for the work that they are to do and that this training is recorded and updated on a five year cycle and is suitable with National Training and Assessment Frameworks.

The CompEx training scheme for example by JTL Ltd offers such a training scheme and can be contacted on www.compex.org.uk for a list of training establishments in the UK. The industry has always had challenges laid down to us and over the next couple of years we all need to ensure that we are indeed employing and using suitably “Competent” persons as required by this standard.

B.4 Assessment The competency of “Responsible “ persons, technical persons with

Gareth Bourhill IEng, MIET,MEI, MFB, GCGI 1 Sheena Drive, Alexandria. G83 9PL

Sotirios Karakolidis Karakolidis 38 Anagenniseos Str Thessaloniki, GR54627 Greece

Basema Al-Mahroos Bapco P.O. Box 25555 Awali Bahrain

Alan Bennett Istobal UK Limited Unit 331C Rushock Trading Estate, Rushock Droitwich Worcestershire WR9 0NR

Leanne Cox CH Jones Ltd Premier Business Park Queen Street Walsall West Midlands WS2 9PB

Rebecca Powell The Electrical Benchmark Limited 4 Amity Place Topsham Exeter Devon EX3 0JE

Glenys Cooper CH Jones Ltd Premier Business Park Queen Street Walsall West Midlands WS2 9PB

Paul Wootten West Supply Electrical 169 Soundwell Rd Soundwell Bristol BS16 4RP

Kevin Ellis Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue 58 St Johns Road Newport Isle of Wight PO30 1LT

APEA New Members Detailed below are new members that have recently joined the APEA during October, November and December 2007.

October William Blyth Norwest Holst Limited Astral House Imperial Way Watford Hertfordshire WD24 4WW Gurdal Orak OPET Petrolculuk A.S. Bulgurulu MH. Sarigazi CD No. 47 Uskudar, Istanbul 34696 Turkey Frederick Pitto Cepsa (Gibraltar) Ltd Europort, Building 7 - 2nd Floor PO Box 51, Gibraltar

APEA tel/fax 0845 603 5507

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New Members Jason McMenamin BP Oil Ltd Witan Gate House 500-600 Witan Gate Milton Keynes Bucks MK9 1ES

Bob Allen Secu-Tech GmbH 7 Winsbury Court Crownhill Plymouth Devon PL6 5JU

Steve Rowe P.O Box 561 Noordhoek Cape Town 7979 South Africa

Kerry Jones GSS Training Limited 12 Ambassador Place Stockport Road Altrincham Cheshire WA15 8DB

Anthony Gallagher Hospital Lodge Stourport Road Kidderminster Worcestershire DY11 7BH Mike Buss Isle of Man OFT Government Building Douglas Isle of Man IM1 1LE Jim Wills Wills Gee Ltd 34 Market Square St Neots Cambridgeshire PE19 2AF Martin Schofield SLR Consulting Westleigh House Wakefield Road Denby Dale Huddersfield HD8 8QJ Brian Warshaw 13 La Platiere 71150 FONTAINES France November Tom Sterling 17 Pickhurst Green Hayes Bromley Kent BR27QT Bo Sebæk-Larsen LD Handel & Miljø A/S A.F. Beyersvej 14 Vanløse Denmark DK 2720

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Johan Psaila 11 Redentur Triq L-Isturnell Roza Luqa Hal- Farrug LQA 3101 Malta Jaume Lopez REPSOL YPF, S.A C/ Cerro del Castañar 72, 1ª planta 28034 Madrid Spain Elana Gonzalez REPSOL YPF, S.A C/ Cerro del Castañar 72, 1ª planta 28034 Madrid Spain Peter Callister Isle of Man OFT Government Building Lord Street Douglas Isle of Man IM1 1LE Brian Hatfield BH Electrical Contractors Ltd Curtana Villa Taylors Lane Pilling Nr Preston PR3 6AB David McGarry CSG UK plc Charter House Unit A9 Barton Industrial Estate, Faldo Road Barton Le Clay Bedfordshire MK45 4RP

Nick Evans Bristol City Council Trading Standards Service Floor 4, Brunel House, St George's Road Bristol BS1 5UY

Tony Doorly Suffolk County Council Trading Standards Service Endeavour House 8 Russell Road Ipswich Suffolk IP1 2BX

Michael Hunt Shell UK Retail Operations Rourke House PO Box 403 Staines TW18 3ZB

Michael McMahon Samac Construction Services Ltd SAMAC House Metro Centre, Bridge Road Orpington Kent BR5 2BJ

APEA tel/fax 0845 603 5507

Janet Knight Suffolk County Council Trading Standards Endeavour House 8 Russell Road Ipswich Suffolk IP1 2BX December Guy Marshlain Gilbarco Veeder-Root Valley Cottage Mill Hill Capel St Mary Suffolk IP9 2JE Derek Thompson Go Bio Fuels Limited 177 Harrow Road London W2 6NB Stephen Sanders Meridian Electrical (Eastern) Ltd 775 Southchurch Road Southend-on-Sea Essex SS1 2PP Stephen Woodock Nuttall Yarwood & Partners Limited The Grove High Street, Dodworth Barnsley South Yorkshire S75 3RQ Tibor Lévay ATLAS Innoglobe Ltd Magdolna str. 6.

Budapest Hungary 1221 Hungary Mike Chorlton Atkins Defence Asset Management Building F53 RAF Spadeadam Gilsland, Brampton Cumbria CA8 7AT Killian Tallon Topaz Energy Ltd Topaz House Beech Hill Industrial Estate Clonskeagh Co Dublin DUBLIN 4 Ireland Peter Robinson 84 The Parkway Canvey Island Essex SS80AE Steven Lazenby CDMC (South Wales & West) Ltd Unit 12/19 Vale Business Park, Llandow Cowbridge Vale of Glamorgan CF71 7PF

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UK, Evesham. Road closed as tanker freed Dec 2007 - A busy Evesham road was closed to traffic for around two hours as firemen fought to free a tanker laden with 35,000 litres of kerosene which became wedged in a narrow gateway.

Police sealed off Worcester Road between Evesham High Street and the A44 Pershore Road as fire fighters used cutting equipment to remove part of the tanker's bumper which had been torn away from the vehicle. The incident happened around 10pm as the tanker tried to reverse into a fuel depot close to the Tesco superstore on Worcester Road. As the driver pulled forward to try and free it, the bumper began to tear away. Fire fighters led by watch manager Toby Kempton were able to establish the tanks had not been ruptured before bringing in heavy cutting gear to remove part of the bumper as firefighters with hose reels stood by.

UK, Trading Standards take on explosive new role Oct 2007 - Keeping Somerset’s residents safe from the potentially explosive risks posed by the sale and storage of petroleum is now part of the daily routine for Somerset County Council’s Trading Standards officers.

The team have taken over the role following the merger of Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Services.

Responsibilities include visits to premises storing petrol to ensure that there are no leaks, providing advice and guidance, and checking plans and inspecting construction work when new sites are built or existing ones redeveloped.

Petroleum is a highly flammable liquid and gives off flammable vapour which, when mixed with air, can result in an explosion. Premises that store petroleum should be licensed and there are strict legal criteria that must be adhered to. Somerset County Council’s Trading Standards officers enforce this as part of their role to protect the community. For example, where a petrol station has closed down, it is important that a qualified contractor has made the storage tanks safe. If not, the tanks could be full of vapour whilst appearing empty, and any damage could result in an explosion.

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Howard Burnett, Somerset County Council’s Trading Standard’s Manager, said: “Petroleum is very dangerous and may accumulate in tanks, drains and cavities, posing a significant risk.

Somerset County Council’s Trading Standards officers are on hand to give advice and help licensed premises meet their legal obligations.”

Councillor Jim Mochnacz, PortfolioHolder for Community Safety at Somerset County Council, said: “When people are filling up their vehicles with petrol, understandably they probably do not lend much thought to the measures in place to keep them safe. I am pleased that Somerset County Council provides this important service to the community.”

UK, BP Sells its last refinery in UK to PetroPlus BP is to sell its last refinery in the UK. The disposal of Coryton, in Essex , for £714.6m (€1027m) comes just over a year after BP offloaded its refinery at Grangemouth.

Close to the M25, the Coryton site is responsible for loading about 700 tankers a day to meet 22% of the UK’s fuel demand at petrol stations. The refinery also supplies Heathrow and Gatwick airports with jet fuel via direct pipelines.

The operation is being bought by Swiss firm Petroplus Holdings, which owns and operates three European refineries, including one on Teesside.

BP and Petroplus have entered into a long-term supply agreement which will provide BP’s retail and other businesses with the products they need.

John Manzoni, chief executive of BP’s refining and marketing business, said: “BP is very much committed to the UK and does not need to own a refinery in the UK to offer its UK customers the best in fuel products.’’ After completion of the sale expected to be complete by the summer of 2008 about 540 staff will transfer to Petroplus. Coryton began operations in 1953.

UK, Hertfordshire.

Fury over oil blast pay out delay Dec 2007 - A man who "lost everything" in the Buncefield disaster has attacked moves to reinstate parts of the oil depot before compensation has been paid out.

APEA tel/fax 0845 603 5507

Ian Silverstein, 38, says he has been "through hell" since his Hertfordshire home was destroyed in the 2005 blast.

Two years on Mr Silverstein still has not received any pay out from the oil company responsible for the depot. In a statement, HOSL, which owns Buncefield, said it was "progressing all claims as swiftly as possible". Planning applications have been submitted for works at the site near Hemel Hempstead. One application, to create a rest stop for truckers 100m from the depot, was rejected on safety grounds.

But arguments continue over the fate of Mr Silverstein's five bedroomed home which now lies ruined having been burgled and looted more than 50 times.

The businessman said he had spent three years and more than £350,000 restoring High Grange, designed by Edwin Lutyens in 1911, set in 3 acres just 200 yards from the depot. Mr Silverstein said: "I lost everything in that explosion; my home, my possessions, my faith in the UK, my entrepreneurial spirit and on a regular basis, the will to carry on. Even after two years I haven't received a penny from the people responsible and I'm still affected on a daily basis by the events and trauma of the explosion on 11 December."

The explosion, which occurred after 300 tons of unleaded petrol leaked from a tank at the depot, sent a ceiling crashing down on Mr Silverstein and his girlfriend as they slept in their bed. Mr Silverstein needed stitches to his head and chest. Oil company Total has already reinstated the depot's underground pipelines to feed aviation fuel from an oil refinery in Humberside to Heathrow.

In a statement HOSL, a joint venture between oil companies Total and Chevron, said: "We have made significant progress overall, with agreement now having been reached to settle approximately 2,400 out of 3,700 formal claims received."

UK, BP relaxes motorcycle helmet rules at petrol stations BP has announced it has relaxed rules for motorcyclists using petrol stations owned and operated by the firm, meaning you should now be able to fill your motorcycle with petrol without removing your crash helmet The company has also suggested the petrol stations it doesn´t directly own should also relax the motorcycle helmet rule.

Gary Worrow, BP´s Retail UK health, 15

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News safety and security adviser said, "The safety and security of our staff and customers is always our top priority. We have taken on board feedback from our customers and hope this will address their needs. We would prefer motorcyclists to remove their helmets before they enter the forecourt shop, but we appreciate this is an inconvenience and difficult to enforce and we do not wish to create any potential conflict for our staff and customers."

Signs asking customers to remove any headgear will remain in place as "These are seen as a request rather than instruction."

UK, High levels of Illegal red diesel used according to UK Revenue & Customs Thousands of motorists nationwide are filling up with illegal fuel, according to Revenue and Customs. Customs officers have carried out spot checks at petrol stations, supermarkets and car parks to catch motorists using reducedduty fuels.

In some areas one in five tanks in vehicles stopped were found to contain red diesel, an agricultural fuel only intended for off-road farming vehicles.

Red diesel only costs about 35p a litre - about 65p less than ordinary fuels.

So far this year, more than 1,700 private cars have been found running on the illegal fuel. Red diesel works in the same way as normal diesel but, because it is taxed at a lower rate, it is only to be used in agricultural vehicles.

With normal diesel prices soaring, Revenue and Customs fear that drivers using the fuel illegally are costing UK taxpayers £350m each year.

UK, Grimsby. Taxi women in petrol death Dec 2007 - A taxi office explosion that killed two women may have been caused by a can of petrol carried by the cab firm boss.

Tony Barker is believed to have had the fuel which suddenly ignited when he walked into the small office on a garage forecourt. His wife Sue and Ann Mawer were killed and he suffered burns after the building was engulfed in flames.

Fire Service spokesman Glenn Ramsden said: “We have no reason to suspect foul play and we think it is just a terrible accident which may have involved petrol.”

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A spokeswoman at the Diana Princess of Wales Hospital in Grimsby said Tony was “comfortable”. She added: “He is out of intensive care and back on a ward, but he won’t be going anywhere for the time being.” Tony lived with his wife, also in her 40s, near the office in Immingham, Lincs. Friend Hayley Dobbs, 39, said: “He is an absolutely brilliant person to speak to, so was his wife. If you wanted anything doing they’d go to the ends of the earth to do it. I think it’s absolutely dreadful.”

Sue had three daughters and a number of grandchildren. Her youngest grandson was born in the summer.

Hayley added: “She just lived for her grandchildren, they were everything to her. She’ll be so greatly missed.” Ann Mawer was described as “a lovely lady”.

Postwoman Katie Styles added: “It’s such a shock. Everyone pretty much knows everyone around here and it’s such a terrible thing to happen.”

UK, Cambridge.

Chemical leak closes petrol station Dec 2007 - A chemical leak from a tanker led to the closure of a petrol station. Police closed an area of the Cambridge Services on the A14, near Boxworth, when 20,000 litres of methanol began leaking.

Three fire crews, a fire rescue team and a hazardous substance recovery unit were scrambled. The section was cordoned off amid fears of toxic fumes escaping as the fuel was transferred to another tanker.

Methanol, a form of biodisel, can cause serious harm if inhaled, with side effects including dizziness, sickness and respiratory failure.

UK, Explosion in Corringham TORY MP Bob Spink has called for a new law to protect communities from hazardous industrial sites, following the explosion at the Coryton oil refinery.

Castle Point MP Bob Spink watched in horror as a 100ft plume of smoke drifted towards Canvey minutes after the explosion rocked the refinery in Corringham.

Now the MP is calling for legislation that would introduce a "safe siting policy" which would lay down stringent rules on how close hazardous sites could be built to residential areas.

Any such law could only apply to future planning applications.

However, if it was passed in time, it

APEA tel/fax 0845 603 5507

could have an influence on Calor Gas's plan to expand its terminal on Canvey.

The company is expected to resubmit its plans in coming months.

Control of major accident hazards sites, such as the Coryton refinery and the Calor plant, are only covered by Health and Safety Executive advice given to authorities.

When considering new applications such as the proposed Calor terminal expansion, planners could choose to ignore such advice.

Dr Spink, who worked closely with Canvey campaign group People Against Methane in fighting the Calor expansion before it was withdrawn ahead of a public inquiry last month, said: "We saw all too graphically this week how great a risk these sites pose, especially when there is little separation from home and schools, and the handling and storage of volatile explosive materials.

"This incident shows how important it is to resist Calor's proposals. I will be raising these matters in Parliament and I will address the safety issues surrounding such hazardous sites.

"I have assurances from the refinery and the Environment Agency there were no toxic fumes released by the fire. But I have asked for an environmental impact assessment, including run-off issues and toxic fume analysis."

The MP said he would introduce a Private Members' Bill and make a speech in Parliament on January 15, which would focus on a policy to ensure there is statutory national guidelines to protect communities. He said he would also fight any further attempts by Calor to build a liquid natural gas terminal near a densely-populated area of Canvey.

Investigation under way AN investigation is under way to determine the cause of the explosion and blaze at the Coryton oil refinery.

Officials are trying to understand how a gas leak resulted in a fierce blaze erupting at the Petroplus plant, near Corringham.

The full inquiry into the incident is taking place between staff from Petroplus, which bought the plant from BP earlier this year for almost £75million, and the Health and Safety Executive.

Experts are to examine any similarities between the fire and the huge explosion at an oil storage depot at Buncefield in Hertfordshire, in December 2005.

Refinery manager Jon Barden has stressed the majority of the plant is operating normally and customer

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News deliveries are being maintained.

He added: "Coryton refinery has been an important part of the community in this part of Essex for many years and a large part of our workforce live in the surrounding area.

"The safety of everyone both inside and outside the plant is our top priority."

He stressed how although some units at the refinery had to be shut down following the incident the rest of the refinery was operating normally and that customer deliveries were being maintained Around 80 firefighters spent several hours tackling the flames and worked to cool the tower down to prevent it from completely exploding and fortunately no one was injured.

After leaving a couple of crews to keep watch overnight Essex Fire & Rescue Service left the site and handed control back to Petroplus, whose own fire crews were instrumental in tackling the blaze with the fire brigade.

Jon Barden, paid tribute to everyone involved and said: "I will be personally thanking both internal and external fire service teams for their magnificent effort."

UK, Peterborough. Oil tanker crash closes road Dec 2007 - The driver of a fuel tanker escaped unhurt after the vehicle overturned and landed in a ditch.

The Straight Drove Road, at Farcet Fen, Peterborough was closed for a number hours following the incident at 10.30am on Christmas Eve. It is believed the lorry, which was carrying petrol, toppled into the ditch causing some of its load to spill onto the road.

No-one was hurt, and emergency services are carrying a clean-up operation to make the road safe.

UK, Petrol Retailers Association buys BigOil.Net The Petrol Retailers Association (PRA) announced on 23 November 2007 that it had bought BigOil.net, a fuel price web service that provides access for forecourt retailers to cost price information used by their oil suppliers.

PRA director Ray Holloway said: “The PRA has secured the future of this established service. It provides vital price information to petrol retailers, so ensuring its continued transparency

and ease of understanding was a priority for us.”

BigOil.net was established in 2004 by the Milford Haven-based company Big Media Group Ltd (BMG), which will continue to work with the PRA on the service.

European Shell contract obtained by Coteba Shell Oil has appointed Coteba as Programme and Project Management service provider for its capital investment programme in its Retail Service Station Network in Europe. The contract is for a duration of 5 years and covers Shell’s network of 19 countries.

Coteba’s organisation includes a European Programme Management Office based in Paris as well as Project Management Teams in the respective countries, operated by COTEBA’s local affiliates. All projects will be delivered in compliance with Shell’s global standards and stringent health, safety, and environmental protection requirements.

This contract confirms COTEBA as one of the leading Project Management companies in the petrol retail industry and allows for the further expansion of the company’s European network.

Coteba is a worldwide operation.

UK, Boy set mate on fire with petrol Nov 2007 - A 13-year-old boy nearly died from horrific burns when he was accidentally set alight by a friend, a court heard. The victim, from Tewkesbury, was left with burns to his hands, feet and shoulders, internal burns and was in a critical condition in hospital after the 16-year-old boy threw a lit bottle of petrol at him.

He required a skin graft and suffered hair loss due to the stress of the incident.

The 16-year-old, also from Tewkesbury, was burning petrol he had poured on the grass on a piece of waste ground "because he was bored".

But when the bottle caught fire, he threw it in the 13-year-old's direction with dire consequences, Gloucester Youth Court heard.

Prosecutor Peter Ashby said the defendant, the victim, a 17-year-old girl and a 16-year-old boy - none of whom can be named for legal reasons - had gone to some waste ground in Tewkesbury known as No Man's Land.

"The group were there to ride a mini-

APEA tel/fax 0845 603 5507

motorbike owned collectively by three of them," Mr Ashby said, "They had filled an empty squash bottle with two-stroke petrol. They took turns riding the bike.

The defendant was seen pouring petrol on the floor in circles and to set fire to it with a lighter. The 17-year-old girl told him to stop or someone would get hurt.

But he ignored that advice. The flames set fire to the bottle. The youth panicked and threw the bottle away from him. The bottle hit the younger boy's upper body.

He realised he was on fire and took his top off. Two of them rolled him around on the floor and an ambulance was called. A police officer describes him screaming in pain with burning hands, feet and shoulders. He was taken to Frenchay Hospital where it became clear that his injuries were more serious than first thought. He had internal burns that were life-threatening. He was moved to Birmingham Royal Infirmary where he was sedated and critical for some days. His injuries required skin grafts and he developed alopecia due to stress."

The youth pleaded guilty to causing actual bodily harm on the basis that he threw the petrol recklessly and in a panic.

Nicola Berryman, defending, said: "This was a one-off piece of abject foolishness.

"Nothing else in his life causes any concern. He is working and earning £80 a week."

The boy said in his defence: "I didn't think of the consequences. I didn't think it was going to catch inside the bottle.

"I don't know why I was doing it [starting the fire]. I was bored. I was just playing. I'm now doing an engineering apprenticeship."

Chair of the magistrates Dr Hazel Padfield sentenced the boy to a 10month referral order and ordered him to pay £750 compensation to his victim.

"We accept there was no malicious intent but the consequences were very, very serious," she said.

"As you have no previous convictions and you have made changes in your life, we feel this can be dealt with by way of a referral order."

Dr Padfield rejected an application to lift reporting restrictions and allow the boy to be named.

UK, Firework in house causes damage A lit firework smashed the window of a house in Preston while a mother and her child were inside.

The mum was showered with broken glass when the firework came through the window of her home in Miller Road, Ribbleton, on Saturday October 27.

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News The five inch rocket burnt the carpet and some bedclothes.

A group of local youths admitted to the incident and stated it was an accident.

The occupier of the property has decided not to make a formal complaint and although police from Preston have spoken to the youths, no further action will be taken.

It comes as the police, fire service and Preston City Council launched the Bright Sparx campaign to clamp down on youngsters causing trouble with fireworks in the run up to Bonfire Night.

UK, AA “Fuel Assist SM” Misfuelling……Don’t feel fuellish if it happens to you Despite the fact that every forecourt pump is clearly marked with either the words Diesel, Unleaded, Super Unleaded etc…about 150,000 motorists manage to lift the wrong nozzle and fill their vehicle with the wrong fuel wasting some 7.5m litres of fuel every year….enough to fill over 3 Olympic sized swimming pools.

Perhaps the embarrassment of the event leads people to blame the colour of the hoses, or the fact that the nozzles should be different shapes and a whole myriad of other excuses but the fact is that having put the wrong fuel in your car can be a very expensive mistake with repair bills being charged by some garages rising to as high as £10k.

Although the AA has worked closely with UKPIA over several years to raise people’s awareness of the problem the number of incidents have continued to rise….almost doubling in the last 7 years. There are 3 significant factors which have resulted in the substantial rise in misfuelling incidents: 1. Increased volume in diesel engine vehicles….UK market was traditionally biased to petrol vehicles.

2. Vastly improved technology on diesel vehicles making it difficult for the driver to distinguish if they are driving a petrol or diesel engine 3. Households with multiple vehicles probably driven by different members of the family.

Mix all of these ingredients together and you come up with the perfect recipe for going to the petrol station and selecting the wrong pump nozzle.

The problem is of course that no one thinks they are going to do it until after they’ve done it!!

Since early 2000 the AA had worked 20

with UKPIA to raise public awareness of the potential issues of misfuelling, despite our best efforts the volume of misfuels nearly doubled between then and 2007, we therefore decided to take a more pragmatic approach for both our members and the wider public by developing a state of the art fuel retrieval service called AA Fuel AssistSM which comes to the rescue after the event and not only retrieves the contaminated fuel from the vehicle but ensures that it is recycled through licensed waste management companies with the end product being blended with heavier oils to create a secondary fuel which is used to heat cement kilns and furnaces.

Although as a business the AA are well versed in working safely at the roadside the provision of a bespoke fuel retrieval service required us to consider a number of unique factors….obviously how to effectively remove the fuel safely (each car requires a bespoke fuel retrieval solution) Our Safe System of Work (SSOW) incorporate everything from risk assessment, clearance certificate, Health & Safety procedures, Emergency Plan, which ensures that we fully conform to all ADR and environmental requirements.

All of the technicians undergo a 6 week intensive training course which includes undertaking both ADR and SPA Passport accreditation….and even having got these under their belt every technician has to undergo a fully staged missfuel assessment prior to being signed off as fully competent and being allowed to undertake fuel retrieval work on their own…..when you compare this to a normal AA Patrol induction course which lasts only 3 weeks you can see that everything has been done to ensure that the technicians are provided with all of the skills and knowledge to undertake this operation safely…..we also kit them out with a special uniform which is anti-static and flameproof.

The AA has invested around £100k in the research and development of the fuel retrieval equipment fitted to their dedicated Fuel AssistSM vehicles. The vehicle being built in conjunction with Whale Tankers to ensure that they fully comply with all relevant ADR legislation and operate at the highest possible standard to ensure that the fuel retrieval operation is carried out with due regard to all Health & Safety and Environmental legislation.

Our latest generation of fuel retrieval vehicle is based on a LDV Maxus and incorporates two working areas separated by a sealed bulkhead partition. The “wet” area at the rear contains all of the explosion proof

APEA tel/fax 0845 603 5507

pumping equipment and is connected to a 330 litre UN approved IBC. This “wet” area also incorporates secondary bunding which has the capacity to contain at least 110% of the total volume of the IBC….even if the vehicle was on a slope. By using a combination of valves the technician can either draw fuel from the casualty vehicle or decant the fuel from the IBC when they are at a licensed waste disposal site. The “dry” area is kitted out with all of the other general tools and equipment required to undertake a fuel drain safely.

The IBC breathes through a carbon canister so that no fuel vapour is emitted at any stage of the retrieval process as an added safety factor a spark arrestor/flame trap is incorporated at the outlet of the breather which is mounted on the roof of the vehicle.

As they are only kitted out to undertake fuel retrieval work we deliberately chose to have the vehicles in a distinctive silver colour rather than our traditional yellow vehicles to reduce the chance of our members expecting them to be able to undertake flat batteries and wheel changes for them.

In the unlikely event of a leak or spillage taking place each vehicle is equipped with a spill containment device capable of absorbing the entire volume of the IBC and as a matter of course drain mat covers are deployed where appropriate on every fuel retrieval activity.

Since the service was launched as a trial in late 2006 we have undertaken over 6,000 fuel drains and have a 99.6% success rate in getting the vehicle running again. In that period over 300,000 litres of contaminated fuel have been recycled.

The service is available both to AA members and the wider public and we have worked closely with BP to provide a forecourt solution for their customers who have inadvertently filled up with the wrong fuel. We are keen to work with as many forecourt operators as possible to provide them with a safe and effective on-site solution.

It is likely that over the next 5 years or so many vehicle manufacturers will start to incorporate fuel filler neck devices which will reduce the possibility of misfuelling so hopefully the scale of the problem will start to decline saving not only the embarrassment of the motorist but also the wasted fuel as well.

For further details on the AA Fuel Assist service please contact: Donald MacSporran AA Road Technical Performance Manager Tel: 07917 595209

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News

Ireland, Fundamental carbon emmission change for motor vehicles to be introduced The Irish Minister for the Environment (Green Party) has announced a new system of calculating car tax that he said will give motorists the incentive to buy more environmentally friendly cars from July 1st 2008.

John Gormley has delivered a "carbon budget" in the Dáil that identifies how the State can reduce harmful carbon dioxide emissions to counteract climate change, to protect the economy and to meet its international obligations.

The Minister announced that with effect from July 1st 2008, there will be a "fundamental change" in the manner in which motor tax is charged for all new cars and imported cars.

Tax will in future be charged solely on the emissions and the system will be rebalanced in favour of cars with lower emissions, he said. This system only applies to cars bought from next July.

Other cars will be taxed based on the current system of engine size, to which changes were also announced in the Budget. Seven CO2 "bands" from A-G will determine the rate of tax payable on a vehicle.

Mr Gormley said there will be a "commonality of approach" between the motor tax and VRT systems. There will be a mandatory labelling system for cars based on their emissions levels.

This will be accompanied by a public information campaign which will promote the purchase of fuel efficient cars, the Minister said.

The Government proposes to produce a carbon budget each year to outline how it will achieve its aim of reducing greenhouse gases by 3 per cent for the following 12 months.

Ireland, Maxol to introduce Biofuels across network The Maxol Group has announced that it will replace its regular unleaded petrol with its new E5 fuel - a blend of 95% petrol and 5% locally produced bioethanol - at all 150 Maxol service stations across Ireland in September 2007. The fuel will retail at the same price as standard unleaded petrol.

Maxol said that its E5 fuel has been

successfully piloted at over 24 service stations throughout northeast Ireland since September 2006. Following the complete rollout, for the first time throughout Ireland, drivers of standard petrol-powered vehicles will be able to use a biofuel without risk to the car manufacturer's warranty.

The bioethanol fuel in E5 is 100% organic and is currently made from whey, a milk derivative and a bi-product of the Carbery Milk Products Cheese plant in Ballineen, County Cork.

Tom Noonan, chief executive of Maxol, said: "This move towards ethanol use helps Ireland to meet EU targets. It is a win for consumers who benefit from lower emission fuel at no extra cost, a win for agriculture which can now develop interests in ethanol production and a win for the economy in that it could potentially reduce our imports."

"Although 5% may seem at first to be a small percentage, when applied to every liter of petrol that Maxol sells through its 150 service stations in the Republic of Ireland, this adds up to a very significant amount of locally produced, renewable and carbon neutral fuel...I can envisage a time in the not-too-distant future when the only fuels from Maxol service stations will be biofuels," Mr Noonan concluded.

The rollout of the E5 green fuel is another first for Maxol in the Irish fuels market, following the launch of its E85 fuel (85% bioethanol) in September 2005. The initiative is part of Maxol's commitment to renewable fuels and to helping the Irish government meet biofuel consumption targets set out in EU directives, which require biofuels to account for 5.75% by 2010 and 20% by 2020.

European fuel retailers: going unmanned With the number of fully-automated fuelling sites rapidly increasing in certain Eastern European markets over the last three years, Benzina has become the latest company to add to the trend. Given the cost benefits to be gained from unmanned networks, the move will provide Benzina with a strong position as competition increases and margins are squeezed Benzina, the fuel retailing arm of Czech firm Unipetrol, is the latest example of a European fuel retailer expanding its unmanned network. The company has launched a new selfservice refuelling system for truckers which will be operated by Kuwait

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Petroleum´s International Diesel Services (IDS). With its seven unmanned self-service sites, Benzina claims to be the first company in the Czech Republic to introduce the IDS refuelling system and plans to further expand the relationship with IDS at other sites across the country.

The launch of Benzina´s unmanned sites comes as growing numbers of fuel retailers expand their unmanned networks, especially in Eastern Europe.

Although the penetration of unmanned service stations into the public refuelling network is limited in the Czech Republic, growth has been high in neighbouring markets.

Estonia has seen particularly strong growth with the number of unmanned sites increasing from 62 in 2004 to 125 in 2007, accounting for 24% of all public filling stations. This is the highest proportion of any Eastern European market. There has also been strong growth of unmanned sites in Poland, where the number of sites increased from 45 in 2004 to 82 in 2007.

The main reason why unmanned service stations are popular with fuel retailers is that they do not require any cashiers, and as such as they are cheaper to run. This means that fuel can be sold at a lower price.

Furthermore, as unmanned service stations require less investment, it is viable for fuel retailers to provide a refuelling network over a wide geographic coverage and serve customers in thinly populated remote areas.

The move to expand automated sites in Eastern Europe, in particular, is likely to be a shrewd move. As these markets mature over the next decade, margins will be squeezed, competition will become more fierce and as a result the sector will consolidate. In such an environment, fuel retailers with a large proportion of low-cost unmanned sites will be in a strong position to fend off the competition and actually gain from the consolidation process. Benzina could therefore be one company that benefits as the market matures over the next few years.

Norway, First hydrogen fuelled cars Two Staoil hydrogen-fuelled cars have been fitted with ‘HY’ (hydrogen) number plates by Liv Signe Navarsete, the Norwegian Transport Minister, allowing the cars to be legally driven on European roads.

Reportedly the first approved cars of their kind in Norway, the vehicles form 23

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News part of Norway’s HyNor project. The project will make driving a hydrogenfulled vehicle between Stavanger and Oslo possible by 2009. In August 2006, Statoil opened its first Hydrogen Pump at is Forus Service Station near Stavanger.

Statoil’s two hydrogen-fulled cars will be linked in with the Forus HyNor Station. In June, nine further cars will be linked in with the new HyNor Filling Station at Gronland, eastern Norway..

An additional two hydrogen-fuelled cars will become part of the Hytec Research Centre’s Filling Station in Trondheim next year.

Italy, Another AGIP multi energy service station opened Eni chief executive, Paolo Scaroni, and the President of the Lombardy Region, Roberto Formigoni, opened the third Agip multiEnergy service station, a state-of-the-art facility that makes innovative use of new forms of energy to improve respect for the quality of the environment and of life.

The station is part of the European Zero Regio Project, which aims to develop, in Lombardy and the RheinMain region in Germany, integrated systems for sustainable mobility through the use of multifuel hydrogen service stations for zero-emissions vehicles.

The Zero Regio Project, which is cofinanced by the European Commission, involves the construction and experimentation of two innovative structures for the supply of multifuel hydrogen, in Mantua and Frankfurt, for the refuelling of fuel cell vehicles, using a range of technological options for the production and distribution of hydrogen.

16 partners from 4 European countries are involved in the project and it is coordinated, at a European level, by Infraserv Höchst GmbH and in Italy by the Lombardy Region.

In Mantua hydrogen is produced, at the service station, using a gaspowered 20 mc/h reformer. The technology uses a high-temperature catalytic process with a pre-mixed flow of steam and natural gas which is transformed into hydrogen in successive stages. The fleet of vehicles is made up of three cell fuel-driven Fiat Pandas, bought by the Lombardy Region for the municipality of Mantua.

Always with the aim of reducing CO2 emissions, the Mantua and Frankfurt stations are also considered „Green Petrol Stations”, given that they are equipped with solar panels of 8 and 20 kWp respectively, that can generate 24

electricity from a renewable source of around 30,000 kWh/year, which corresponds to a reduction of around 16 tons/year of CO2 emissions. For the petrol-based part, multiEnergy is an innovative modular concept that integrates the refuelling of hydrogen with a range of conventional liquid and gaseous fuels, including biofuels, with a view to contributing to the development of the new generation of low/zeroemission vehicles that car manufacturers are offering the market.

In terms of energy saving, the multiEnergy station could become, in the short term, a platform for bioconstruction and bio-architecture to test low-impact recycled materials, electrical, heating, air-conditioning and lighting systems with efficiency gains that will make it possible to reduce energy consumption in terms of kWh/m2/year as is happening across Europe.

In the short term Eni will use hydrogen mixed with methane. The aim being to launch, at a national and European level, the use of this hydrogen-methane mix as an immediate solution, exploiting the Italian competitive advantage in terms of infrastructure and know-how in methane compared with the rest of Europe. Eni’s commitment has been formally recognised by two important sustainability indexes: the Dow Jones Sustainability Index and the FTSE4Good.

The creation of this new Agip multiEnergy station is a further demonstration of Eni’s commitment to the continuous improvement of the entire Agip network and the objective of providing a wide range of services and products. Eni has always viewed “Technology and Environment” together; the Agip network was the first in Italy to distribute unleaded petrol in 1987 and to produce, from the early ’90s, low sulphur diesel, as well as products such as BluDiesel, BluSuper, sulphur-free diesel and petrol, anticipating by a wide margin the introduction of European norms in 2009.

Georgia, SOCAR signs agreement on purchase of 14 petrol stations in Georgia On November 12 2007, State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) signed an agreement through its subsidiary Socar Energy Georgia LLC on the purchase of a network of 14

APEA tel/fax 0845 603 5507

petrol stations in Georgia “After the signing of the agreement we are going to start renaming all the petrol stations as they will operate under SOCAR trademark,” Socar Energy Georgia’s head Mair Mammadov said. In parallel SOCAR is building petrol stations independently in Georgia.

“I think five petrol stations under construction will be commissioned until late 2007. Our network will use by 80% petroleum products supplied from Baku and only high-octane petrol will be imported from other countries,” he said.

The network of 19 petrol stations will allow increase sharply SOCAR’s share at the Georgian market of oil products.

“Today our share at wholesale petrol market in Georgia is 50% and at market of AI-92 petrol 70%. SOCAR supplies to Georgia on average 20,000 tons of oil products a month, including 15,000 tons of petrol,” Mammadov said.

Earlier, until late 2007 SOCAR wanted to bring its retail network in Georgia up to 15 petrol stations, including its own and rented ones.

SOCAR investments in Georgia have exceeded $300 million. Through its subsidiary SOCAR intends to expand its activity on whole oil sector of Georgia. SOCAR has a 51% stake in Socar Energy Georgia LLC and the rest belongs to Georgian partners.

USA, Georgia authorities seek input on E85 fuel standards US Georgia state fuel standards meant to protect consumers from buying low-quality fuel could have the unintended effect of squelching the state's new ethanol industry, experts say.

That's why the state Department of Agriculture is holding two town hall meetings, to take suggestions on how to update Georgia's fuel standards for ethanol blends.

Interest in the ethanol industry has increased along with fuel prices and American concern about U.S. energy security. A new state incentive is available for offering an ethanol-mix fuel at retail pumps.

Ethanol refineries are popping up in Middle Georgia. A cellulosic ethanol plant, using wood to make ethanol, is being built in Soperton. Another in Cordele is planning to turn soft drinks and other juices into ethanol.

"Ethanol production is ramping up in Georgia, and we want to make sure ethanol producers here work well with

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News the oil companies," said Terry Coleman, Georgia's deputy agriculture commissioner. "But we want to be sure that however we change the regulations, the fuel quality and octane levels are the same."

Matt Hartwig, a spokesman for the national Renewable Fuels Association, said Georgia is "particularly forwardlooking in its approach" to ethanol policy because it is trying to address not only the consumer market but also ethanol production.

Although Tennessee has been the most rapid in accommodating ethanol blends, he said Georgia and Florida are making strides.

Georgia and other Southeastern states have strict rules regarding vapour pressure. Too much vapor - a bigger problem during the summer in hot climates like Georgia's - can cause "vapor lock," resulting in a car running poorly or not at all. On the other hand, too little vapor pressure can prevent a car from starting.

The Georgia Department of Agriculture conducts random testing on gasoline to make sure that vapor pressure falls within certain limits, said Rich Lewis, director of fuels and measures.

However, oil companies have expressed concern that in some conditions, ethanol blends might not meet these standards, said Oscar Garrison, assistant agriculture commissioner for consumer protection.

The Renewable Fuels Association, Georgia Petroleum Council and many others have asked the state to reexamine its rules, he said.

"Publicly traded companies are concerned they wouldn't meet the standard during the summer months," Garrison said.

Big oil companies need to install new ethanol mixing and storage facilities at their terminals if they want to expand their ethanol offerings, he said. They don't want to make that major investment if there's any chance their fuel won't pass muster.

State officials plan to develop alternative rules based on feedback from oil companies, ethanol producers and distributors, and from others who attend the town hall meetings.

Dennis Burnett, alternative fuels manager for Davis Oil Co. in Perry, said Georgia's ethanol market has already jumped into high gear during the past two months. A leader in Georgia biofuel distribution, Davis Oil sells various cleaner-burning fuel blends in the midstate.

Burnett said he expects consumers will have much more access to ethanol at the gas pump if the state's fuel standard changes. He also expects competition for ethanol to become stiffer.

USA, Everett.

Gasoline tanker explodes in Everett, igniting homes and cars Dec 2007 - A tanker carrying about 9,400 gallons of gasoline overturned in a traffic circle and exploded, sending forth a torrent of fire that ignited at least two multifamily homes and as many as 40 cars.

Residents of a nearby neighbourhood were hastily evacuated, but no one was seriously injured.

The crash occurred at a rotary connecting Routes 16 and 99, fire officials said. State Police Trooper Eric Benson said the driver of the tanker lost control after driving through the rotary too quickly, flipped over and struck a guardrail.

John Malone, who lived in one of the building that was destroyed, said he saw flames outside his window when his girlfriend woke him. More concerning, though, was fuel from the truck that he watched move toward the homes.

“It was like a river,” he said. “I just grabbed my girlfriend and her aunt and ran.” Malone said he began to hear cars explode as the fuel and flames reached them. “As the river went, the fire went with it,” he said.

Firefighters’ efforts initially were hampered by frozen hydrants and icy conditions with the temperature well below freezing. By mid-morning, as the smell of fuel and burning wood mixed, firefighters continued to pour water on one of the ruined three-decker homes.

Two light poles that collapsed during the

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explosion lay across the road near a line of burned-out cars, all encased in ice.

“In consideration of everything the firefighters at the scene had to deal with, I think it’s a miracle that we haven’t seen any serious injuries,” Everett Fire Chief David Butler said at a news conference.

Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer Amy Thomas said crews found no immediate sign of any sheen on the nearby Mystic River or the Island End River, a small inlet off the Mystic. Most of the gasoline appeared to have dispersed or burned before reaching storm drains that lead to the rivers.

Among those evacuated were 84 residents of an elderly housing complex that was threatened, but did not burn, Butler said.

About 47 residents were taken from nearby triple deckers, including the two that were destroyed. Evacuees were brought to a nearby armory for shelter, where the Red Cross was assisting them.

“The alarm went off and we all took off out of there,” said Francis Mahoney, who lives at the complex and was standing outside the armory wearing sandals and socks because he had to leave so quickly. “All we saw was the flames in front. We had to get out of there.”

The driver of the tanker, Chad LaFrance, 30, of Dover, N.H., was cited for speeding and for not carrying his medical certificate, which verifies his health. He was uninjured in the crash.

LaFrance worked for Abenaqui Carriers, Inc. of North Hampton, N.H., state police said. A message left at the company was not returned.

New Hampshire licensing records show LaFrance has a valid commercial driver’s license. The records list three speeding violations from 2000 to 2002 involving LaFrance’s personal vehicle, as well as two failures to have his vehicle inspected. There also was a violation involving an unregistered vehicle.

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration records for P.S. Marston Associates, LLC — the corporate entity that owns Abenaqui — show the company’s 83 commercial trucks and 105 drivers had been involved in four accidents in New England over the past 2fi years. There was injuries at one of the accidents, but no fatalities.

27

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News The federal records give the carrier a “satisfactory” safety rating — the only other rating category is unsatisfactory — with better-than-average inspections records relating to vehicles, drivers and hazardous materials.

Dylan Constantine, 32, said he was half asleep watching TV when an explosion that “sounded like a shotgun blast” jolted him wide awake. He roused his roommates and they took off outside, where they had to jumped through a wall of burning fuel that was flowing past his house.

Outside, cars were exploding one after the other, and Constantine noticed one man trying to drive away in a burning vehicle before abandoning it.

“We were scared the whole street was going to go up,” said Constantine, whose house was spared. “It’s amazing everybody got out of their houses.”

As he watched the fire burn, Constantine saw through the window of one of the burning homes a Christmas tree that was staying lit even as the fire burned and water poured around it.

“Best-lasting Christmas tree bulbs I’ve ever seen in my life,” he said.

USA, New Jersey, New Providence. Fire guts garage at New Providence gas station Dec 2007 - A fire tore through a New Providence gas station gutting its garage, injuring a firefighter and frightening neighbours because of its proximity to a natural gas line. "I saw dark smoke, and it seemed to be under control, but then all of a sudden the flames went up," said Suzanne Freaney, who roused her family and fled her home, which stands two doors from the gas station and auto shop on Springfield Avenue.

The gas station, which is near the Berkeley Heights border, was closed at 7:30 am. when the fire broke out officials said. The fire was brought under control by around 10 a.m.

Fire Chief Craig Stapfer said the gas pumps automatically would shut down if they caught fire. He also said the gas tanks are secure because they are underground. One Springfield firefighter suffered a broken arm, officials said. A Corvette, a Ford Explorer and a Dodge pick-up truck were parked inside the ruined garage at Full Circle Repair, said owner Denny Mellon. Although the Texas Eastern natural gas line runs nearby the property, the New Providence fire chief said the line was 28

not threatened by the flames.

Even so, although investigators are trying to determine the cause of the fire and the extent of the damage, New Providence police Capt. Ed Catallo said fires at gas stations can be particularly dire. "The flames itself are dangerous enough, but all the gas and by-products make it worse," he said. "The toxicity of the place is the problem."

USA, EPA promotes recycling materials into fuel The U. S. Environmental Protection Agency is promoting the recycling of certain petroleum secondary materials into fuel. This effort, which will revise the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act regulations, is expected to help petroleum refineries reduce waste and capture more energy from each barrel of oil by allowing for the recycling of these materials when they are used at a petroleum refinery for the production of synthesis gas fuel.

To qualify for the exclusion, the oilbearing hazardous secondary materials must meet several conditions. Provided the conditions of the exclusion are met, these materials will be excluded from the regulatory definition of solid waste and can be used to produce synthesis gas.

Gasification is a highly efficient, advanced technology that is currently used to convert carbon-containing materials into synthesis gas. In petroleum refining operations, synthesis gas is used to generate hydrogen and electric power. The regulation should be published in the Federal Register in about two weeks.

Information on the rule is available from: http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/hazwast e/gas.htm There is a factsheet at: http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/hazwast e/gas-fs12-07.pdf

USA, Tampa Bay. Sneaky gas thief Oct 2007 - Florida sheriff's deputies have arrested a 70-year-old man believed to have stolen thousands of gallons of gasoline using an elaborate pumping system.

Hobert Gibson of Winter Haven was arrested on grand theft charges of stealing thousands of gallons of gas from stations in Pasco and Polk counties. He was charged with two counts of grand theft by each county, and may face numerous additional

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charges, according to a Polk County sheriff's news release. Gibson may be responsible for stealing 3,000 to 10,000 gallons of fuel each week using a box trailer and truck to steal the gasoline from the gas stations, investigators said.

Deputies saw Gibson siphoning 400 gallons of gas from a Circle K store in Lakeland, and 523 gallons of gas from a Cumberland Farms Store in Dade City.

Deputies in a helicopter and cruisers followed Gibson to the gas stations and into Hernando County, where he was arrested. Gibson was driving a stolen box trailer, taken from Central Food Equipment in Lakeland in 2005, deputies said. The trailer had been outfitted with two tanks with a capacity of 3,250 gallons of fuel. Gibson rigged a trap door in the bottom of the trailer and parked over the underground fuel tanks at gas stations. Deputies said he would drop a hose into the tanks and use marine batteries to pump the gas into the trailer. He would unload the fuel into larger tanks at his business, Crews Towing. Gibson would then sell the fuel at $1.80 a gallon.

Detectives said Gibson may have been at it since at least the beginning of 2007. They are now trying to find others involved. The case is still under investigation.

Australia, Brisbane.

Petrol Diluter fined $470,000.

Dec 2007 - A petrol distributor who ripped off motorists by deliberately watering down its premium fuel blends has been fined $470,000 in a Brisbane court. Northern NSW-based company Dojoo Pty Ltd, trading as Ballina Petroleum Distributors, and its managing director, Santo Pennisi, were convicted of 28 separate breaches of the Trade Practices Act following a successful prosecution by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

The Federal Court in Brisbane heard that between September 14, 2004 and June 22, 2007, Dojoo sold about two million litres of diluted petrol in its Lead Replacement, Premium and Ultimate range by mixing it with regular unleaded fuel. The scam netted the company an estimated $154,000 in additional profits, but only came to light after a television current affairs program was tipped-off by a whistleblower.

The development comes on the same day as an ACCC report which raised major concerns about the operation of the unleaded retail fuel industry. Mr Pennisi, one of four company directors,

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News admitted to masterminding the rip-off as a way to compete with the entry of retailing giants Coles and Woolworths into the petrol market. The court was told he ordered tanker drivers to fill the wrong petrol tanks with unleaded fuel at 12 separate BP service stations owned

by Dojoo, and also instructed administration staff to falsify company accounting records. The adulterated petrol was then sold to customers at the full price, despite lower octane levels.

The petrol cocktail also had the potential to damage vehicle engines, the court heard. "Mr Pennisi must have known through his experience as a mechanic that such damage was likely," Justice John Logan said, before personally fining the disgraced executive $70,000. "The consumers were in a position of vulnerability. A consumer is an ordinary Australian they were relying on the labelling present on the bowser."

As well as sullying the reputation of BP, which had no knowledge of the scam but was now exposed to possible civil action by aggrieved customers, Dojoo's annual net profit had plummeted from $4.5 million to $2.5 million. The court heard it had made a $200,000 donation to a local charity for the establishment of a driving school as a way to pay penance to the motoring public.

Justice Logan said if not for Mr Pennisi and the company's obvious contrition, the penalties imposed may have been much stiffer.

as its necessary to look at the various profiles, the blast profiles and other factual information that's available from the scene, we'll be there as long as it's absolutely necessary to do that and get the information we need to support our very detailed investigation," he said.

Australia, Sydney.

Fireworks blast investigation could take months

Russia's petrol retail market is facing its biggest crisis in almost 20 years as severe shortages force some retailers to close their service stations.

Russian firms are exporting both crude oil and refined products. That, combined with outages at refineries in central Russia, has caused a spike in wholesale fuel and diesel prices.

The shortages have forced wholesalers to ration supplies to retailers, who in turn are unable to pass on higher costs after agreements with authorities to keep pump prices stable ahead of the Dec. 2 State Duma elections.

LUKoil and TNK-BP have partly stopped business at their retail networks in the southern regions, while Rosneft’s Siberian retail network has been working intermittently, traders said.

Petrol stations that yield little profit are also being shut down. “Temporarily shutting down service stations that sell little can be a way to reduce operating costs, instead focusing on sales on busy highways,” a source at LUKoil said.

Moscow city government held a

Dec 2007 - WorkCover New South Wales says it will be some months before it can establish the cause of an explosion at a Wallerawang fireworks factory in the central west.

The Howard and Sons factory near Lithgow was almost demolished in the blast and about 20 homes nearby suffered damage, including broken windows and guttering. The general manager of WorkCover, John Watson, says a group of technical specialists is trying to establish what caused the explosion. "It's a most unusual event, these things don't occur frequently so we'll take some months to look at all the evidence we collect from the site and establish exactly what has occurred and how we can be sure we are not going to have a recurrence," he said. Mr Watson says it could be months before the cause is known. "We'll be there as long

New Zealand, Fuel Leak at New Pac ’n’ Save Petrol Station The leak at the as-yet unopened Pak'n'Save supermarket petrol station in Mangere was believed to have been caused by a contractor who accidentally pierced one of the pipes, said Foodstuffs Auckland property development manager Murray Jordan.

A estimated 14000 litres of fuel leaked into the ground.

Auckland Regional Council staff assessed the area and were satisfied the leak had been contained to a localised area and posed no risk to people.

Mr Jordan said the petrol had been placed in the newly constructed tanks to test them. The tanks had a total capacity of 100,000 litres.

Russia, Fuel shortages closes service stations

APEA tel/fax 0845 603 5507

meeting with oil companies and independent traders in the region to address the problem, a retailer said.

The independent petrol retailers are worst affected. It is not clear now this will affect the medium and long term development of an independent petrol retail market.

Indonesia, Petroleum Downstream Association calls for change to regulator Indonesia Petroleum Association downstream committee member Debut Kamajaya said that the regulator's policy of only granting one-year concessions was unrealistic given the high costs that had to be born by firms in providing storage and distribution facilities if they wanted to enter the subsidized fuel market.

"Retail fuel distribution is a long-term business as the firm will need at least 10 years to turn a profit," he explained.

In addition, Debut also called on the regulator to better define a number of the requirements it had set for would-be distributors as part of the bidding process.

BPH Migas theoretically offers opportunities to new market players to take part in the sale of subsidized fuels, which are currently handled solely by Pertamina. In order to obtain a concession, the other market players have to participate in a tender based on strict requirements.

Among the requirements is a commitment from the new players to provide services in at least two different distribution areas.

BPH Migas has divided Indonesia into four distribution areas -- area I, covering Sumatra; area II, covering Java and Bali; area III, covering Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Papua and Maluku; and area IV, covering West and East Nusa Tenggara.

Another requirement is that they have their own support facilities, including a distribution network and storage facilities.

As a result, would-be new entrants are discouraged from bidding and Pertamina always ends up being reappointed as the distributor of subsidized fuels, which account for more than 90 parent of the fuel sold for transportation purposes.

Two overseas firms, Shell and Petronas, which have been selling fuel here since the market was partially liberalized in late 2005, currently only hold a tiny portion of the market as they are only permitted to sell unsubsidized 29

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News fuels.

Other companies, such as BP and Total, have expressed an interest in entering the retail fuel market but have yet to do so.

BPH Migas chairman Tubagus Haryono said that at least six companies, including Pertamina, Shell, Petronas, Total, and BP had bid for concessions to distribute subsidized fuels in 2008.

Even though the bidding process is not over yet, the regulator has said that the winner would once again most likely be Pertamina as it is the only bidder that can meet all the requirements.

Shell Indonesia general manager supply Iwan F. Salim said that it would be difficult for the Shell company to win a concession given the extent of the company's facilities at present.

Like Debut, he said that the regulator needed to review its policies on the deregulation of the retail fuel market if it was really committed to opening up the country's downstream petrol retail business.

India, Blast at medical square petrol pump Jan 2008 - Alert employees at a petrol pump averted a major accident after a blast shook the Medical College Square fuel station. However, one of the employees, Kailash Ninawe, a resident of Kadbi Chowk, sustained minor injuries and was admitted to Government Medical College and Hospital. The incident took place around 6.45 pm on January 14th, when Dhantoli resident Sagar Meshram had gone to the company-owned Indian Oil Corporation Limited petrol pump to fill petrol in his two-wheeler. He was accompanied by his wife and threeyear-old daughter.

Before Ninawe could refuel Meshram's two-wheeler, the two-nozzle pump suddenly exploded. The impact of the explosion was so high that the tin cover from both sides of the pump was blown off. Soon, two alert employees of the pump, Kalmlakar Kedar and Kishore Nikam, used their presence of mind and doused the pump with fire extinguishers, recalled Meshram, while talking to TOI. Although he and his family had a miraculous escape, Ninawe sustained minor injuries after one of the tin covers slammed into his back.

Two fire tenders reached the spot, but until then, employees of the pump had brought the situation under control, said Imambada police station's subinspector N S Bondre. Though the reason for the blast was not immediately ascertained, police ruled 30

out use of any mobile phone that might have triggered it.

Nagpur city police's Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad also reached the spot. Senior manager of IOCL, Ramesh Humne said it is first time in the history of Nagpur that a pump got exploded.

"We would also initiate an inquiry to establish the reason behind the blast," he added. Mohabbat Singh Tuli, president of Nagpur Petrol and Highspeed Diesel Dealers Association, said such incidents are rare and unheard of in the recent past. "We need to see whether it occurred due to electric short-circuit or petrol leakage.

Once we come to know the reason, we shall take up precautionary measures in future."

Manila, Three killed in Philippine gas tank explosion Oct 2007 - Three people were killed in the Philippine capital when a fuel tank explosion ripped through a shopping mall in the financial district of Makati, police said.

Panicked noontime shoppers ran out of the Glorietta mall as smoke billowed out of the building and police rushed in to investigate, witnesses said. "We have three confirmed dead," a police official on the scene told reporters.

At least 10 casualties were taken out by rescue workers, the officer added.

"Our initial report is that it was an accidental explosion of LPG (liquefied petroleum gas)," said Manila police chief Geary Barias. He said the gas tank apparently exploded at a restaurant inside the mall. "I was on my way to the parking lot when I heard a muffled explosion inside the shopping mall," television journalist Mike Ochosa told DZBB radio. "People panicked and ran out. I saw smoke coming out," he said.

Pakistan, Road tanker supplies resume but 45 service stations destroyed Oil supplies to almost all parts of Paksi resumed after the armed forces provided security to oil tankers, but retail sales would remain affected for sometime, official and market sources said.

A senior official said the ministries of interior, defence and petroleum and natural resources remained engaged in

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making arrangements to overcome supply disruptions.

He said it was decided that oil tankers would move in convoys in the entire Sindh and some parts of Balochistan under the security cover to be provided by military trucks. Some convoys had started leaving petroleum depots to provide oil products to retail outlets, he added.

However, the official said that retail sales in some areas of Sindh would remain suspended for about a month as about 45 petrol stations had been destroyed in Karachi and interior Sindh.

A twin-dispenser costs around Rs6-8 million and takes almost a month to be imported and installed.

He said that the stock position of petroleum products had improved over the past few days mainly because of disruption of normal after the government had announced three-day mourning. “Even in areas like the NWFP where oil companies were facing shortages, stocks have been replenished.”

The official said that furnace oil stocks had decreased over the past few days because of disruption in the movement of crude oil, and refineries in the upcountry were unable to produce sufficient quantities. However, he said that the supply of crude oil had been resumed and refining would become normal in two days.Refineries in Karachi and mid-country had enough stocks, but their supplies were disrupted because of the law and order situation.

Market sources said that business activities would remain affected for some time.

Bahrain, Fuel tankers could still face restrictions on movement Road tankers carrying flammable substances could soon be banned from roads in residential areas and other routes after the proposal was backed by MPs. The bill also restricts tankers to specific timings for supplying petrol stations and transporting loads to industrial areas. The proposal stipulates that the government would be responsible for allocating specific main roads to be used by the tankers.

Acting Civil Defence director Major Mohammed Shuwaitar said he had nothing against the proposal, but added it would be studied before being approved.

"The General Directorate of Traffic

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News already has a list of tankers, what substances they carry and which company they belong to," he told MPs. "This helps us know what substance we are dealing with whenever there is a spill.

"To be honest, the country has seen just one tanker full of oil overturn on Sitra Causeway in the last 30 years - in addition to one tanker leak.

Malaysia, Petronas Dagangan to develop another 70 service stations Petronas Dagangan Bhd plans to invest more than RM500 million to open another 70 Petronas petrol stations this year, said its senior general manager Md Fadzlan Abdul Samad.

He said: “We are planning to open about 70 petrol stations in all growth areas in the country such as the Klang Valley, Penang and Johor. We will be investing in excess of half a billion annually for the retail outlets,” he said.

He added that Petronas Dagangan would also be opening several new “hyperstations” in the country, in which these petrol stations would have post offices, restaurants and convenience stores under one roof.

“We want to offer customers more than just a petrol station. (Hence), we are on the lookout for land big enough for us to open these hyperstations, as space is our constraint,” Md Fadzlan said. “The investment for each hyperstation would cost more than RM10 million.”

Currently, Petronas Dagangan has two hyperstations in the Klang Valley.

PetrolWorld visited both of these Petronas hyperstations back in 2006 and was very impressed with both locations which were in two very different locations in the Kuala Lumpur suburbs.

Pakistan, Government allows setting of LPG auto-gas stations The government has allowed the private sector to set up Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) Auto-Gas station throughout the country, a government notification said. An official said, “the federal government has finally decided to allow setting of LPG auto-gas stations like CNG stations in the country by allowing use of LPG as auto fuel as a replacement of petrol.”

It would be a new sector for investment by the private sector as the LPG would be an alternate fuel for the auto sector as against the existing costly petrol. In this regard, the government has made regulatory framework for use of LPG in auto sector, which has been made part of the LPG (Production and Distribution) Rules 2001 making amendments in the SRO 256 (1) 2007.

The federal government in a meeting considered the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources summary and approved in principle the use of LPG in motor vehicles, subject to Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) providing a regulatory frame work ensuring comprehensive safety standards. In this regard, the OGRA has devised a regulatory framework to ensure effective regulation, efficient monitoring and public or consumer safety.

The Regulatory Framework provides general criteria for installation of LPG auto-gas stations. Now OGRA has prepared guidelines or layout plans in accordance with the approved Regulatory Framework, showing details, including the minimum required inter distances for the equipment, storage tanks and built-up areas etc.

The Regulatory Framework contains the following criteria to setup LPG autogas stations: stand alone LPG auto-gas station, LPG auto-gas station colocated with CNG, gasoline and diesel.

The installation of LPG refueling station shall conform to the technical standards prescribed in LPG (Production and Distribution) Rules, 2001 and NFPA 58. For ensuring safety, the storage capacity at an LPG auto refueling or dispensing station shall be limited to 10 metric tonnes (maximum).

Botswana, Gaberones. Shell blames heavy rains for contaminated fuel Dec 2007 - Shell Filling Station in Mogoditshane has confirmed that the petrol station sold water-contaminated petrol to motorists last week.

Shell Botswanas External Affairs Manager, Mr Eric Galotshoge, said selling of petrol mixed with water to motorists was not done deliberately because the company was not aware until one of the motorists complained.

Mr Galetshoge said the problem was caused by heavy rain received in Mogoditshane. He said after receiving complaints from the motorists the company inspected its petrol tanks and

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discovered that one of the seals that covered the main petrol tanks was not properly placed and due to the heavy rains the water leaked into the tanks.

He however, said all affected clients would be compensated accordingly by the petrol station, adding that the water had already been drained to avoid any further inconveniences.

Speaking in an interview one of the complainants, Selagaboy Boiphemelo said after refueling at the station his car started giving him problems just a few meters from the service point. He said the problem forced him to stop the car and thereafter it did not start. I started getting suspicious when the petrol pump meter they were using to pump petrol into my car was moving much faster than the normal speed I know, about five more cars that had a similar problem just next to mine he said Mr Boiphemelo said upon checking with the supervisors at the petrol station, he learnt that the petrol was contaminated with water.

South Africa, Petrol station leak solution remains elusive A Shell petrol station in Eastcliff, Hermanus, close to Cape Town has been dealing with what appears to be a fuel spillage from a fuel dispenser. The site is close to the ocean but the amount of fuel and extent of the leak has not been verified.

Shell SA's spokesperson Monica Ledingwane admitted that the company has been aware of a spillage from a fuel dispenser at the petrol station for some time.

“We suspect that the spillage might have migrated north-east along the Main Road into a storm water pipe. In October we opened a culvert to install cushions around the storm water pipe in an effort to absorb the spillage. In addition, we have excavated wells in the forecourt between the pump dispenser and the Main Road and on the corner of Fairways and Main Road with the hope of determining the location of the product and to confirm the spill profile.”

Ledingwane said specialist environmental consulting firm Pragma has cut out a trench system to recover the leaked fuel and prevent further migration of the fuel.

A meeting was held in November with the department of environmental affairs in an effort to solve the pollution problem. “Technicians are currently working on the problem and trying to solve the crisis,” she said.

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News

Press Releases Hytek gets the gist over refuelling When Gist Ltd were looking to kit out an expanding depot with fuelling equipment, Hytek’s products fitted the bill perfectly.

Expansion at Gist’s Thornbury depot meant that a complete new refuelling system was needed. Installers County Pumps provided a huge new selfbunded storage tank capable of holding 125,000 litres of fuel. The tank has two compartments, one holding (white) road diesel and the other gas oil (red) diesel.

The tank feeds off four of Hytek’s Alpha pumps. The white diesel fuel dispensers pump at 90 litres per minute and the others at 70 litres per minute.

Each suction line is fitted with an in-

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line Hytek PR valve. The pumps are positioned on two islands, with safety break couplings incorporated in hose connections to prevent vehicle’s driving away.

Gist’s Thornbury depot, near Bristol, is used for fuelling of articulated lorries and rigid vehicles used for the distribution of a major UK retailer’s food range.

As well as delivering to stores, Gist also distributed to the retailer’s food outlets at UK service stations.

County Pumps’ sales director Alison Newport said the company had worked with Hytek since its inception 22 years ago.

“We have built up a longstanding relationship with Hytek to ensure customer needs can be met in terms of product range, spares, excellent quality and a highly reliable back up service.

“We can rely on Hytek for parts to be despatched to ourselves or direct to site within the timescales needed. We are pleased to be one of their leading distributors.”

Gist supply manager Michael Swindell said: “We have Hytek equipment installed at some of our other depots and have never had any problems with their equipment. Based on past experience we were happy to go along with County Pumps’ recommendation and use Hytek products for this installation.”

Gist has a fleet of around 1,100 vehicles operating from its many depots and servicing the needs of many high profile clients.

Hytek’s products are sold only through distributors. Distributors can call 01279 815600 for a copy of Hytek’s catalogue. End users should ask their fuel supplier, pump installation/service company or tank manufacturer for further information.

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Hytek celebrates employee dedication Hytek’s technical manager is celebrating twenty years of success in employment with the fuelling and lubrication equipment company.

Clive Wellings, has been working at the company since he left school. The first full time employee, Clive started in the Hytek workshop as a production engineer, building pumps.

With a keen interest in engineering and mechanics, Clive is now technical manager and designs new products for the company. In fact he is responsible for Hytek’s most popular product within the industry. He came up with a specification and design for the robust Alpha diesel fuel pump and then sourced all the parts.

Clive said: “Hytek has offered me excellent career progression. They have encouraged and helped me to expand my abilities.” He added: “A lot has changed over twenty years. The company has grown from just two directors and me, to around thirty people.”

In his time at the company Clive has seen the introduction of several new initiatives. Hytek undertake regular ‘lean thinking’ projects where the company regularly inspect and improve areas of working life for their employees. They are also committed to recycling all waste in their dedicated recycling area. A keen supporter of helping the environment, Clive helps to keep up the green spirit, by cycling to work everyday.

Clive said: “Hytek is a brilliant company to work for. It has a lovely family atmosphere and there has always been an emphasis on customer satisfaction which has stayed with us through the years. I hope to continue working with them for a long time.”

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Articles

Why do all petrol stations look the same?

By David Davis, Minale Tattersfield This paper was delivered at the APEA Conference 2007.

Ask any person in the street to describe a petrol station, they would inevitably include in their description a flat table-like canopy structure covering the pumps which faces a box like shop building. Apart from brightly coloured decorative surfaces trying to mask the similarity between different retail brands, respondents who answered as we suppose would largely be correct for the vast proportion of petrol stations worldwide are exactly that. But why?

As petrol station designers for many major networks across the world during the last 20 years we at Minale Tattersfield are asked this many times.

Can the blame be put on our shoulders? Not entirely so we would argue as the flat boxy aesthetic had already emerged before our times in developed countries during the rapid personal vehicle ownership period from the early 60s. A more accurate answer would revolve around the economics of building a petrol station. If a retailer is to build a network of 10s, 100s or 1000s of petrol stations, there is no more economically better solution than to build petrol stations as if they were the cars that they fuel, that is by using bulk or mass production techniques where as many components as possible are standard and as minimum as possible are special and location specific. This is generally possible because all the key criteria for petrol station layout are universal such as the turning circle of vehicles. Therefore petrol stations are not only componentised like cars but totally modular like Lego or Meccano construction toys, being easily bolted in position to suit the particular needs of a location.

So does it matter? To the consumer apparently not. Market research generally finds that motorists say they are concerned primarily with convenient location, clean toilets and price. In reality motorists are not such price hawks as they say. More revealing still is that sales turnover figures dramatically increase after a significant redecoration of a petrol station. In the

UK Shell noted a 20% increase after the RVI reimaging program of the early 90s.

In less developed markets where the general standard of petrol station presentation is low, a newly decorated station may increase turnover far more dramatically, even 200% has been quoted. So yes it does matter to consumers how petrol stations look and if it matters to consumers then as any good retailer will say it matters to us to the petrol station industry too.

successful and ground breaking design which coincided with the much publicized IPO in 1987. The key design feature for BP was a rounded bull-nose green aluminium composite decorative system applied on all their canopies which at night had a smart green neon strip running from end to end.

Previously BP’s canopies were the same as every one else at the time, a flat acrylic light box with green, yellow and white stripes plus a splash of red. At night the whole surface was back illuminated but invariably wasn’t due to one or two “Black teeth” or fluorescent tube failures.

Not only did the new design look better, it cost less. So the key move forward for BP was 1) To clean up a confusing colour palette and choose one distinct colour and make it their own. 2) Create a more modern, automotive inspired shape for the decoration system and 3) As a consequence of using pre-coated factory applied painted metal surfaces for the bull-nose, create a different

So if it does matter, what are we as designers and our clients the retailers themselves doing about the

appearance of petrol stations. The trend during the last 20 years has been to continue the modular ethos further and create bright and cheerful decoration systems that simply bolt on to the light-weight canopy and building structures. Our first oil company client BP set the trend with an immensely

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lighting system appearance.

for

night

time

The 3 “Golden Rules” described above were subsequently applied to all the other major oil company re imaging programs, notably Shell in 1990 and Total soon after. Even after BP’s introduction of the Helios logo and “Beyond Petroleum” positioning statement, they have been true to the 3 33

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Articles Spain and Eko in Greece respectively.

Our own company ventures into this

rules. In fact green as a colour has evolved into green as a philosophy for BP or perhaps more accurately an aspiration. Nevertheless how one presents ones self or company to the world is now more than ever a priority board room topic. That is to say the value of a brand has been recognised as an equity of great value and in certain circumstance such as Coca Cola the most valuable asset the company owns.

So if the main priority during the last 20 years has been about brand presentation, what of the flat table like canopies and box buildings? In fact the first significant deviation were the Mobil round “Mushroom” canopies that sprouted around the world during the 1960s complete with cylindrical pump housing. The Mobil roadside retail brand has greatly diminished since but a number of “Mushrooms” survive in Italy as part of the Q8’s network. This scenario is symptomatic of an industry which is constantly in flux, merging, acquiring, selling, and rationalising…..which only further favours the flat boxy structures which can easily change their brand a number of times during their lifetime. Although the overwhelming quest to be different is a hard urge to suppress and it’s not difficult to find “One-offs” of various sizes and shapes dotted around the world. However they largely remain “One-offs” because of the prohibitive financial consequences of breaking from what suppliers and sub contractors can easily build or more accurately familiar with building.

Even renown architects Norman Foster and Santiago Calatrava have design petrol stations for Repsol in

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“Forbidden zone” include the d r a m a t i c cantilevered canopy design for Italiana Petroli whose then p r e s i d e n t demanded such a flagship statement to support a parallel “Space age” advertising campaign. Once IP engineers and ourselves were left with the task of reimaging the whole network on a limited budget we soon “Got real”

and distilled the essence of the more futuristic design into something more practical.

Our most recent foray into attempts at breaking the mould was at the behest of Reliance Petroleum in India who quite justifiably argued that even existing canopies could be further reduced in price since they had 2 canopy skins where 1 would suffice and had numerous decorative elements which were not required functionally speaking. Therefore why not minimalize the canopy design further but at the same time create a beautiful architectural shape that could be easily

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replicated. The single skin barrel vault solution that we created responded to that brief but frustratingly was too different to a conservative construction

industry whose nervousness of change won the day.

So it’s likely the flat table-like canopies and boxy buildings albeit with pretty decoration will remain for a while longer. There are no breakthroughs in material science on the horizon which will significantly change matters. BP’s solar PV curved glass canopies and wind turbines although worthy were more about communicating company aspirations and supporting nascent technology than building an economically viable petrol station. Car fuel technology is changing but that is unlikely to alter what we see above ground. The biggest change we foresee in the near future is really a continuation of the current trend towards tempting consumers to buy their groceries on the move with more substantial convenience stores on site offering a decent range of products and more significantly a higher profit margin for the retailer. There will be other changes but predominantly less visible such as energy efficient lighting and heating

systems plus where appropriate recycling bins which cleverly not only offer an environmentally friendly service and communicate positive company attributes but attract customers to the site for other more profitable activities.

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Model Licensing (Application) Forms

By Roger Marris, WYFRS The process of issuing and renewing licences for petrol filling stations has the potential to place an unnecessary administrative burden on petroleum licensing authorities (PLAs) and licensees alike. With some PLAs in the UK, the absence of non-standard forms for the grant, renewal and transfer of licences resulted in a wide variation of the data required from the applicant.

This irregularity, together with the (informal) national policy for renewing licences annually, was raised by the three representative bodies of the petrol retail industry at a meeting of the Petroleum Enforcement Liaison Group (PELG) on 26 January 2006.

The PLA representatives on PELG acknowledged the administrative problems arising from the absence of standard forms and the amount of work involved with annual round of renewals; the latter being especially onerous on those licensees operating numerous filling stations throughout the country; ie supermarkets and major oil companies.

It was agreed that model application forms should be produced with the renewal form being designed to require the minimum of data to be entered by

the applicant so as to streamline the process.

The annual licensing policy stemmed from advice given to PLAs by the Heath & Safety Executive in March 2002 (PETEL No.65/47) to issue licences for periods not exceeding 12 months; this was in anticipation of the introduction of new (permissioning) regulations that would replace the Petroleum (Consolidation) Act 1928 (PCA). The reasoning behind the advice was to avoid PLAs having to give refunds for any unspent portion of the licence fee when the new regulations came into force.

With the abandonment of Phases 2 and 3 of the programme to modernise petrol legislation in 2004, the rationale supporting the annual licensing period ceased to have any relevance as the PCA was to remain in force for the foreseeable future.

After all the stakeholders had been consulted and comments taken onboard, the final drafts of the model application forms were approved by PELG. The wishes of the retail industry for an increase in the length of licensing periods was covered in the model

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application and renewal forms which make provision for the applicant to apply to the PLA for the licence to run for 1, 2 or 3 years.

On 16 June 2007 the PETEL circular No. 65/62 ‘Petroleum (Consolidation) Act 1928 – Petrol Filling Stations – Licence Renewal Periods – Model Application Forms’ was published on the HSE’s website in addition to being circulated to all PLAs through the regional licensing groups. http://www.hse.gov.uk/lau/lacs/6562.htm Since the rug was pulled on the modernising programme, PELG has striven to promote consistency in the enforcement of the PCA. Firstly by producing a set of model licensing conditions and latterly by the production of the model application forms.

Indications are that the majority of PLAs have adopted both the model licensing conditions and the application forms. For those PLAs that have not done so, it is unclear if it is an intentional decision or just that PETEL circulars have not reached the heads of department or elected members.

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Do you know if your Stage II Vapour Recovery Solution is working correctly?

By Marek Kurowski, Gilbarco Veeder Root Introduction The much-publicised Vapour Recovery Stage II deadline of January 1st 2010 is fast approaching and is no doubt at the forefront of many minds within the retail petroleum industry. In realty this deadline is only part of the story, critical to the implementation of these regulations and equally as important, is the effectiveness and monitoring of the vapour recovery systems. There are guidelines governing compliance and the recording of the efficiency of the vapour recovery systems.

How can you demonstrate compliance?

In simple terms by testing and documentation, but more specifically in three distinct areas: 1. System type testing and certification Operators need to install systems that meet the minimum requirements. Vapour Recovery Stage II systems should be independently tested and certified as meeting the minimum 85% efficiency requirement. Automatic monitoring systems should also be tested and certified. The most common standard used is the German “Merkblatt 1”. The manufacturer of the system should be able provide these approval certificates when the equipment is purchased.

2. Post installation testing, retrofit and ongoing maintenance Purchasing the equipment is only the beginning, it must to be correctly installed, calibrated and tested to ensure it performs to the required standard with the results recorded accordingly. The Forecourt Equipment Federation (FEF) Stage II Vapour Recovery Test Certificate can be found in the FEF Stage II Code of Practice and can be used as the basis for compiling these results. The FEF represents all the major UK suppliers of Stage II systems and a copy of the Code of Practice is available from www.fef.org.uk 3.Ongoing periodic testing and inspection Defra PGN 1/14 (06) prescribes in Section 5.21 that where automatic monitoring systems are not installed Vapour Recovery Stage II systems should be tested annually. If automatic monitoring is installed then every three years will suffice. The results of these tests should be compiled and recorded in a suitable way and made available to the Site Operator. In addition, PGN 1/14 (06) Section 5.23 stipulates that Vapour Recovery Stage II systems without automatic monitoring require the Site Operator to carry out weekly checks to verify functionality of the vapour recovery system and these results held in a log book on site.

To successfully demonstrate ongoing compliance, automatic monitoring systems offer operators several significant benefits: a)Prescribed system testing is every three years rather than annually representing a significant cost saving b)No requirement for weekly operator checks that will at best only identify that the system is operational rather than operating within the 85% to 115% efficiency range c) No requirement to document the weekly checks d)Automatic monitoring systems will identify a problem with the Vapour Recovery Stage II system providing the Site Operator with seven days to have it resolved before the affected petrol nozzles are inhibited from operating.

There is also an argument that automatic monitoring affords major advantages for regulators as it ensures vapour recovery systems are operating within the specified efficiency range and can demonstrate this performance as required.

On site testing and calibration.

The following section describes the methods of testing carried out by Gilbarco Veeder Root (GVR), which will typically be representative of other suppliers in their general approach.

To demonstrate this, it will be beneficial to first illustrate a typical Vapour Recovery Stage II system.

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Typical test equipment set up – in real life

Typical Vapour Recovery System (Single sided) (Non-vapour recovery compenents within grey box)

Vapour Recovery Stage II efficiency measurement and calibration - this is the standard test for active open systems and will be used on new equipment, retrofit work, ongoing maintenance and periodic testing.

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The tests are carried out on each side of the pump as they have separate Vapour Recovery Stage II control and vapour paths. No fuel is dispensed and the tests measure the volume of air rather than vapour recovered, hence the importance of the “K” factor (correction factor for air) that you will have seen in various documents. A hand held terminal is connected to the vapour recovery controller and assumes control to simulate the petrol flow. An external calibrated gas meter measures the resulting amount of air recovered by the system. The terminal allows the engineer to control the simulated petrol flowrate and view the actual flowrate of the air collected and the efficiency percentage. If this falls outside the required specification the terminal is used to recalibrate the stage II system. Calibration is by means of changing the simulated petrol flowrate across the operating range and mapping the resulting actual flowrate of air collected into the system memory.

The system specific “K” factor is required by the terminal when calibrating the system to apply the correction factor for air. The efficiency performance at 38 L/min and 20L/min is then checked to ensure it falls within the required 95% to 105% range. GVR test at 38 L/min as this is the maximum flowrate pumps with Vapour Recovery Stage II are set to. This ensures that the pumps always operate within the optimum performance range of the Stage II system. This check is then repeated on any other petrol nozzles on this side of the pump and the whole process is then repeated on the other side of the pump.

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Articles Automatic monitoring system set up and testing The GVR automatic monitoring system uses a well proven rotary displacement flowmeter to measure the actual recovered vapour and checks against the pump petrol flowrate to determine the actual Vapour/Petrol ratio for each valid transaction.

A valid transaction is one that has a duration of greater than 20 seconds at a flowrate of at least 25 L/min. The monitoring system can store up to 1000 transactions per pump side for download to a laptop computer. This data can then be used for troubleshooting of the Vapour Recovery Stage II system when required, and for demonstrating actual operating efficiency. The data can be viewed in graphical form to identify trends etc or transaction data line by line as per the samples below: B-Nr.3349 B-Nr.3349 B-Nr.3349 B-Nr.3349 B-Nr.3349 B-Nr.3349 B-Nr.3349 B-Nr.3349 B-Nr.3349 The GE1 flowmeter and encoder - key component of the automatic monitoring system

14:37:07 28.1.07 0 127 100.0 37 1 35.9 35.6 15:11:53 28.1.07 0 128 99.6 40 1 33.87 33.98 15:17:50 28.1.07 0 129 101.2 98 1 35.16 34.73 15:22:47 28.1.07 0 130 100.9 57 1 34.70 34.36 15:36:26 28.1.07 0 131 101.8 78 1 35.42 34.76 15:41:03 28.1.07 0 132 101.9 50 1 35.32 34.63 15:49:33 28.1.07 0 133 100.1 94 1 34.79 34.73 16:09:49 28.1.07 0 134 98.7 26 1 33.68 34.12 16:13:15 28.1.07 0 135 99.2 70 1 33.25 33.49

Sample transaction data with vapour recovery efficiency highlighted

The final system test is carried out via the hand held terminal to simulate the ALARM and STOP conditions. This enables the Engineer to confirm that the petrol nozzles do not operate when in STOP condition and that the diesel nozzles will continue to operate.

Auto Regulation or Auto calibration

Sample data in graphical form taken from a Gilbarco Euroline VR Stage II retrofit The monitoring system indicates the current status of each side of the pump by a simple traffic light sequence of: Green = OK Amber = ALARM (7 day clock is counting down) Red = STOP. STOP means that the petrol nozzles on this side of the pump will not operate. If any diesel nozzles are present they should continue to operate normally. The system status can be displayed in several ways: External traffic light LED on each side of the pump, via pump communication to POS or via data cable to kiosk indicator/tank gauge for onward 42

transmission to remote location via telecoms.

When the monitoring system is commissioned the flowmeters are calibrated against the external calibrated gas meter. The actual performance can then be checked by running an air test as previously described and by using a laptop computer to display the monitoring system air flowrate against the actual air flowrate through the external calibrated gas meter. GVR standard practice is to set the monitoring flowmeters to within +/- 0.5 L/min of the external calibrated meter at 40 L/min flowrate. This test can be performed at any time to verify the performance remains within specification.

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Some Vapour Recovery Stage II monitoring systems can include an “Auto Regulation” system that continually adjusts the recovery system to compensate for environmental influence, wear and backpressures.

These systems can only provide corrections within the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs control limits but have the effect of reducing false alarms. In a system like the GVR monitoring system the optional Auto Regulation system does not require any set up or maintenance.

Additional tests for retrofit work and prescribed periodic inspection Retrofit work involves assembling pipes and connecting various items of equipment within the pump itself.

Before the Vapour Recovery Stage II system can be commissioned and calibrated it is essential to ensure that the new vapour paths are secure and there are no leaks.

Leaks before the vapour pump would

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Articles result in additional air being drawn in as well as the vapour affecting the efficiency of the system. A leak between the vapour pump and shear valve could result in vapour escaping into the pump cabinet.

To test retrofit Vapour Recovery stage II and automatic monitoring systems GVR use a hand held laboratory vacuum pump and a selection of fittings to test the various systems offered during the retrofit process.

Vacuum test kit and in use on site during Stage II retrofit

Where you actually apply the test varies from system to system as you require suitable test points that are easily accessible.

Most of the GVR systems have the proportional valve next to the vacuum pump in an accessible position so the system is split in two for testing at this point. A 700mb vacuum is applied on the vapour pipe work above the proportional valve, which includes the hose(s) and nozzle(s) – see earlier system diagram.

The other test point is the connection to the shear valve. At this point a 700mb vacuum is applied at the shear valve connection and this tests the pipework up to the vapour pump, through the vapour pump and up to the proportional valve. All the pipework/equipment joints are either compression fittings or have Dowty seals so as long as they are correctly fitted and tightened they will pass the test. Experience shows that 700mb vacuum will easily expose any connections or components that are not vapour tight.

The prescribed period inspection stipulates that the vapour containment integrity is checked every 3 years and the above method can be employed to confirm this within the pump.

Conclusion The current industry wide activity of installing new pumps with Vapour Recovery Stage II and retrofitting existing pumps is only the start of a much longer process. To realise the benefits envisaged by the legislation and to justify the investment Operators, Contractors and Regulators all have important roles to play. The industry is currently on a steep learning curve and so it is essential that these Operators, Installers and Regulators all work together to deliver these benefits as we move towards the 2010 deadline.

Yes we can draw on the significant experience of our European colleagues and the industry is benefiting specifically from their experience in equipment design and resulting system reliability. However, there are subtle differences in the UK situation particularly when we are trying to go from virtually zero compliance to full compliance in three years – a real challenge for us all!

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High Blend Ethanol Fuels E85

By Jamie Thompson Introduction The APEA has published a guidance note on the storage and use of high blend ethanol fuels and this can be obtained as a free download from the APEA web site www.apea.org.uk it offers advice to Petroleum Licensing Authorities and to industry in general on the legal requirements and the safety and environmental precautions that should be taking when introducing these new fuels onto forecourts.

The Association drew up this publication with the assistance of many in the industry and followed the successful method of discussion and consultation with interested parties that was adopted when publishing the “Blue Book” guidance; eventually this guidance will be introduced into the Blue Book when next revised.

What is E85?

Ethanol produced from agricultural products is one of a range of bio fuels that have been developed in response to concerns for the environmental impact of the continuing and increasing use of petroleum.

Bio-ethanol is a completely renewable and sustainable alternative fuel source. When ethanol is mixed in high volumes with low volumes of petrol, a potent yet environmentally friendly alternative fuel called E85 is created. This eco-friendly fuel can reduce by up to 70% the typical emissions of fossil carbon dioxide (CO2), one of the greenhouse gases widely believed to contribute to global warming.

Bio-ethanol is available in various blends, most commonly E5, E10, E85, E100. The E stands for ethanol and the number denotes the percentage of ethanol in the blend, so E85, also known as fuel ethanol, is composed of 85% ethanol and 15% petrol.

So how does it reduce CO2 emissions?

Since bio-ethanol comes from biomass, it actually ‘recycles' CO2 already present in the atmosphere. That is, the crops grown for conversion to bio-ethanol remove CO2 from the atmosphere through photosynthesis. When the bio-ethanol 44

is burned as a fuel during combustion, CO2 is then returned to the atmosphere. However, up to 70% of the CO2 emitted is offset by the bio-ethanol crops' previous removal process.

As an alternative fuel, not only does bio-ethanol reduce CO2, it also helps reduce our dependence on oil significantly.

In Europe an EC Directive requires each country to reduce its dependency on fossil fuel and by the year 2010 at least 5.75% of the fuels we use must be bio-fuels from renewable sources.

Ethanol is already in use in existing unleaded fuel blends and under existing European standards can contain up to 5% ethanol, (this percentage may increase in the future) The high blend ethanol fuels this guidance note refers to are those in excess of 30% E85 should only be used in what are termed flexible fuelled vehicles (FFVs) and other vehicles that are fitted with

requires changes to valve seats, injector systems, fuel pipe work, fuel pump and engine management system able to detect different ethanol-fuel blends and/or petrol and adjust itself to suit. In the UK we have a small number of cars available which run on both E85 and unleaded fuel. The Ford Focus, the Saab and Renault Megane are examples.

The Initiatives to Store E85 In Europe with each country deciding how to meet these targets it is inevitable that there are differences of approach.

Sweden is an example of a country committed to encouraging use of E85 by using the “carrot and stick” method Sweden's story is an ideal example of how government involvement can make bio-fuel a practical, mainstream option, not just a special-interest issue. In essence, the Swedish government has provided the necessary incentives for widespread acceptance and use of biofuel: • Legislation in Sweden ensures that bio-ethanol E85 sells 25% cheaper than petrol • 50% of government agency fleet cars must be eco-friendly vehicles.

• Flex-fuel cars get free parking in many Swedish towns and cities.

• Flex-fuel cars are exempt from the congestion charge in Stockholm.

• Company car tax is 20% lower for environmentally friendly cars like the flex-fuel.

• 50% of refuelling stations must have an E85 pump by 2009.

• 65-87 Euros reduction in vehicle tax depending on model of the car.

engines that have been designed and manufactured to burn alcohol fuel and unleaded fuel. The conversion of existing vehicles is not generally feasible due to the high cost, which

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Not surprisingly, almost 11,000 BioPower cars have now been sold domestically in Sweden!

Sweden is leading Europe in encouraging the use of bio-ethanol as

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E85 already accounts for 2.5% of fuel for Swedish road transport, by far the highest proportion in any European market. It is an important part of the Swedish government's strategy to eliminate its dependency on oil by 2020.

Sweden's first E85 pump was installed at a filling station in 1995, but initially bio-fuel deployment was very slow due to the small number of flexfuel cars. Steady expansion began in 2002, and by 2005 the number of filling stations with E85 pumps had risen to more than 300, or about 10% of the national network. Now there are over 800 bio-ethanol E85 refuelling points in Sweden, and new pumps are opening at an average rate of between five and ten a week. It is projected that by 2008, 25% of the country's filling stations will be offering renewable fuels.

France also has a programme to expand the number of service stations that have E85 available and some of the companies are projecting that over 500 filling stations will shortly be dispensing E85.

The situation in the US where approximately 400 service stations already sell E85 has the political issues driving its installation of being lessdependant on foreign oil and more dependant on the US farmers who produce the ethanol. In addition they expect the E85 fuel to retail at 20% less than regular fuel. There have been some concerns over the compatibility of dispensers and equipment being used by the regulators and Underwriters Laboratories are working hard to get appropriate testing of products against these new fuels.

What is apparent that you cannot just remove the unleaded fuel and replace with E85 at the service station, it is important that a full review is made on the suitability of the equipment already on site and changes are made where necessary to ensure that materials are compatible with the high blend of ethanol.

dealers. At the time of writing this about 20 service stations are selling E 85 in the UK, but at a price differential of 2 pence per litre; the differential falling well short of the 20% difference the industry thinks it is needed to make the

Some conventional materials (such as aluminium, zinc and brass) used in petrol stations together with some plastic and rubber materials may be adversely affected by HBEF E85 has a high alcohol and solvent content and can have a detrimental effect on storage tanks constructed of GRP, causing the tank to soften and possibly fail. It can also cause fuel quality issues arising from degradation of the tank. HBEF should not be stored in GRP tanks unless the tank has been specifically constructed and certified for use with HBEF. Also steel tanks that have been lined with polyester or epoxy based materials may not suitable for ethanol blends. If there are any doubts about the compatibility of material used to line a tank, the manufacturer of the coating system or the installing contractor should be contacted to confirm that the lining has been certified for use with HBEF.

product a success.

It is unfortunate that some of these sites which started selling fuel have now had the fuel withdrawn, whether this has been due to compatibility issues or low sales is not clear.

The challenges associated with E85 Storage HBEF have different properties to those of petrol, which means special considerations have to be made when choosing equipment and materials for certain components of the installation.

The UK Position

Existing dispensing equipment and attached components are unlikely to be compatible with HBEF. Advice should be sought from the manufacturer(s) to ensure that all the component parts of the dispenser are compatible or that those, which require adaptation or replacement, are identified.

Perhaps the most important change is likely to be that for the drainage of forecourts, with the Environment Agency concerned that E85 which is water soluble will not be separated in the oil separator and may pass through into the drainage system.

While this may not be such a problem if the discharge is into the foul sewer the EA is very concerned if the discharge is into controlled waters and will likely impose special conditions on such sites.

It is recommended that early consultation with the Environment Agency in such cases is a must.

I have only touched briefly upon the issues and would recommend that you download the 15-page document, which covers the concerns and provides good guidance on how to meet your legal obligations and indeed ensure that the equipment you use will meet the safety and environmental concerns when storing and dispensing this fuel.

The APEA will also be happy to discuss and answer any questions the guidance note may raise.

In the UK there have been no fiscal initiatives by the government yet, but they have announced the setting up of The Renewable Fuels Agency under the Department of Transport which starts on 1st April 2008- so this may well change in the foreseeable future.

The company leading the storage and dispensing of E85 has been the supermarket chain Morrisons who have a number of filling stations in East Anglia, and Somerset selling this product. E85 is also available in other parts of the country, and with other

APEA tel/fax 0845 603 5507

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Articles

Car Valeting Services – on a forecourt near you…

By Peter Fear, Northamptonshire County Council Background During late November 2007, whilst out on Trading Standards visits, I drove past a small village roadside Petrol Filling Station. I was familiar with both the site and the owner – a sole trader, due to previous Trading Standards and Petroleum inspections. The site is adjacent to the path and only has room

carried out a joint inspection with an EHO on Health and Safety matters and this was the first potentially serious incident I had come across since Northants took over Petroleum matters from the Fire Service (April 2006).

Whilst at the office I had time to examine the file for the site. It was clearly a ‘material alteration to the

Forecourt and roadside

for several cars to be parked on the forecourt at any one time. Vehicles also pull onto the forecourt to use the shop.

What caught my eye were 2 gentlemen operating a car valeting service on the forecourt.

approved arrangements’, however, I could find no record of any authority agreeing to this operation. I managed to contact the right Environmental

Something just didn’t look right. I drove past 4 times to work out exactly what was going on. I could see electric cables hanging down that were operating both the jet wash and vacuum. These were in extremely close proximity to an unleaded petrol pump. I then realised that they must be operating on top of petrol tanks but couldn’t recall which grades of fuel. Not being armed with a camera or my petroleum paperwork I returned to the office.

I then recalled a Bulletin article by Brian Baker entitled “A tale of enforcement” (December 2005) regarding a similar matter.

Upon reading the article, it reminded me that the local Environmental Health Officer was also in a position to serve a Prohibition Notice on the site. I had not 46

Four unleaded tanks

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Health Officer, who was also unaware of the car valet. We arranged to visit the following day.

The inspection Upon our arrival, the car valet was in operation. We managed to observe a whole valet take place. The vehicle was jet-washed and vacuumed on top of 4 unleaded tank manholes. To do this, the operators had to take their ‘ordinary electrical equipment’ inside hazardous zone 1, there being a 1 metre hazardous zone around each tank manhole. The equipment was plugged into an extension cable with the cables wrapped around and hanging half way up the front of the sales building.

The extension cable was plugged into a residual current device and then into an ordinary electrical socket on the outside of the shop. It was later revealed this electric socket had been taken out of use many years ago but was put back into use after some electrical works had been carried out inside the shop.

In addition to this, water from the jet-wash was being forced down the lifting holes causing a considerable build up of water in each manhole. Upon completing the valet, the vehicle pulled forward a few yards (it should be in metric, but I’m a golfer…) and the valeters filled the vehicle with unleaded fuel all within

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Articles under the Health and Safety Act Work Etc Act 1974 and also the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 in relation to the use of inadequately protected or suitably constructed electrical appliances being exposed to wet or dirty conditions and flammable or explosive vapours.

No further action was deemed necessary on this occasion due to the co-operation of the owner, good previous history, the size of the business and the many Regulations small retailers face whilst carrying on their business.

Effective joint working However, with the increasing number of car valets setting up, it is well worth that extra look whilst you are out and

Valet equipment, LFMI and electrical cables

close proximity to the appliance cables and valet equipment.

Enforcement Action We then introduced ourselves to the site owner. He was renting the space on his site to 2 gentlemen to carry on their valeting business. As soon as we advised of our concerns he immediately instructed them to cease their activities and we discussed moving them to a different position on the site, well out of any hazardous zones.

I directed the owner to his licence conditions regarding ‘material alterations to the site’ and asked if he had sought approval from the Petroleum Licensing Authority. I also asked if a risk assessment had been carried out in relation to the valet to which both answers were ‘no’. I issued a notice under DSEAR regarding the requirement to notify and seek approval by the Petroleum Licensing Authority, to carry out a site specific risk assessment in relation to the valet and also

Valet equipment, LFMI and cables

regarding the operation of ordinary electrical equipment in a hazardous zone.

The EHO issued a prohibition notice

about, especially when they have set up adjacent to a forecourt and to consider the extra risks it could bring. This also emphasises the effective enforcement assistance that colleagues in Environmental Health can bring.

The current position is that I have now received a complaint from a member of the public regarding the new location of the car valet. It is now on a shared driveway on the other side of the site causing a mess, excess water and potential highway congestion when cars are queuing. I am now in discussion with the Highways Department and Police into resolving this. You save them from being blown up and they still complain….

Peter Fear Trading Standards Officer/Petroleum Officer pfear@northamptonshire.gov.uk

APEA tel/fax 0845 603 5507

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Articles

History of Petrol Stations Part 5 - Churchill’s Departmental Committee Report on Petroleum Spirit (Section One)

By Brian Baker In the annals of petroleum history, there is a cornerstone to record - and that simply is known as the Departmental Committee‘s First Report on Petroleum Spirit which was set up to report to the then Home Secretary, the Right Honourable Winston Churchill, MP who in 1909 was the UK’s Home Secretary.

The need for a Departmental Committee came about as the number of fires and explosions involving petroleum spirit following its importation, distribution and storage became widespread across the UK with deaths and serious injuries being sustained. Its original use as a lighting fuel was still in use, so too was its use as a cleaning solvent as well as in hairdressing but more significantly, the rise and presence of the motor vehicle accelerated its use and there was a huge increase for its demand in the

early years of 20th century Britain. In fact the impact of the Committees findings was to eventually see a complete re-issue of petroleum regulations some years later that was to become known as the Petroleum (Consolidation) Act. 1928 (and later in 1929 for Northern Ireland) T h e Committee came into being on 1 9 t h December 1 9 0 8 (Command Paper No. 5175) under a Warrant of Appointment w h o s e members were Sir Henry Hardinge Cunnyghame as Chairman, Sir Boverton Redwood, a Cabinet Minister, Major Aston McNeill Cooper-Key, His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Explosives and James Ollis, Chief Officer, Public Control Department of the then London County Council.

On 11th February 1909, Arthur Boyle, Engineer Surveyor in Chief of the Marine Department of the Board of Trade was also appointed to contribute specifically to incidents involving petroleum in the Docks and Harbours around the UK. The Committee’s task was “To inquire into the sufficiency of the existing regulations relating to the storage, use and conveyance of petroleum spirit and to report what further precautions, if any, are in their opinion desirable as 50

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tending to diminish the dangers attendant thereon” The Warrant being signed by Hubert J Gladstone, son of the of the famous William Gladstone, the former Prime Minister of Great Britain who held office some years earlier.

To conduct such a wide ranging inquiry, 39 people were questioned and recorded between 23 February 1909 and 3 February 1910, including John Troutbeck the Coroner for Westminster and South West London, The Right Honourable Earl Russell and the head of the London Fire Brigade, Captain Thompson.

The first report was published as Command Paper No at the sum of 6d (2.5p) in 1910. They used the term Flash Point of Petroleum Spirit as 73 degrees Fahrenheit throughout the report and examined witnesses from the Local Authorities, Railways, Trade Interests, Manufacturers of Safety Devices, The London Fire Brigade, the London Salvage Corps and the British Fire Prevention Committee and finally “Motorists”. The insurance industry was also represented by a Mr Dilloway.

This committee visited Purfleet where large storages belonging to the AngloAmerican and British Petroleum Companies as well a visit to Portishead, near Bristol (Avonmouth). A further visit was made to the works of the Safety Non-Explosive Reservoir Company where they witnessed demonstrations

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Articles 4. “There is an absence of any obligation upon local authorities to enforce the law or to appoint officers for its administration.”

of the company’s devices as well as looking at experiments with the use of Steel Barrels and the test of bursting them under pressure.

The Committee reviewed the existing Acts of the time – The Petroleum Acts of 1871 and 1879 as well as the Petroleum (Hawkers) Act of 1881 and the Highways Act of 1896 that made storage of petroleum possible for locomotives under section 5 of that Act There were at the time several names alluding to petroleum that are listed which included “Rock Oil” “Rangoon Oil”, “Burmah Oil” and oil made from petroleum, coal, schist, shale, peat or other “bitumous” substance. They (the Committee) ensured tests were carried out on all these substances to ensure the global term of petroleum matched that of the Flash Point referred to of 73 degrees Fahrenheit using Abel’s Closed Cup Apparatus the report continues to discuss a range of applications central of which is the issue of a Petroleum Licence Defects and Omissions of the Existing Acts This section begins to list the shortcomings of the legislation in force at that date and can be listed as follows; 1. “There is an absence of any provision for Government to control and supervise of the working of the Acts and no statutory requirement to the reporting of accidents and powers for enabling investigations to be made”.

2. “There is an absence of restrictions upon the conveyance of petroleum spirit by road and conditions that may be imposed by a (Petroleum) Licensing Authority.”

3. “There is excessive decentralisation which places administration of the Acts in the hands of District Councils in England and Wales and Petty Sessions in Ireland.”

5. “There is inadequate powers of inspection, search and s a m p l i n g conferred upon officers appointed by the local authority.”

6. “There is fact that manufacture and use of petroleum spirit are not governed by the Acts as well as the wide uses of the time, domestic use and the methods and use by hairdressers.”

7. “There is limited scope of the powers conferred on Harbour Authorities in regard to byelaws and also the very wide definition given to the term “Harbour” 8. “There is an absence of powers enabling railway and canal companies to make byelaws as to conveyance.”

The report then goes on to discuss various incidents and the receipt of testimony from numerous professionals, bearing in mind that in this report, no mention of the use of electricity is mentioned - that is to follow a few years later.

Finally in this First Report Appendix 1 a list some 107 Harbour Authorities is recorded that had made Bye Laws under Section 4 of the Petroleum Act 1871.In Appendix 2 samples of types of licenses issued by London County Council are given as a guideline that include conditions of licence for Dry Cleaning, Manufacture of Helmets, Manufacture of India Rubber, Manufacture of Waterproof Garments, Glass Silvering, Manufacture of Paint, Glove Cleaning , Manufacture of Asbestos Packing, Tyre Making, Repairing and Re-Treading, Manufacture of Incandescent Lamps, Manufacture of “Air Gas”.

The final Appendix shows a Brick “Intercepting Tank for Retaining Petroleum” that was in use around 1909.

9. “There is an absence of a definite penalty for the breach of any terms of a Licence.”

10.

“There is an absence of any prohibition, except in the Petroleum (Hawkers) Act 1881 of allowing petroleum spirit to escape into drains or sewers.”

11.

“There is an absence of uniformity in the regulation of the keeping of petroleum spirit or of any indication as to the general character of the precautions to be taken in connection therewith.”

12.

“There is an absence of terms or arrangements on the storage of empty petroleum containers.”

13.

“There is an absence of any terms for the keeping of petroleum spirit for use in Motor Vehicles.”

14.

“There is a need for a standardised container such as the Two-Gallon Rectangular style that was adopted from the specification given in the “Railway Classification of Goods Merchandise Trains, dated January 1909, page 365” (Hence the standard 2 gallon metal tin petrol containers was born!)

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The last point in the First Report of the Departmental Committee is a submission of a Table of fires from the City of Glasgow that ends out of 13,988 fires in the city, 123 were caused by petroleum vapour in contact with lights!

Next time we shall look at more findings from Churchill’s Committee that answers more questions that shaped our legislation here in the UK and influenced many other countries around the world in the control of petroleum spirit.

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Training in the Kingdom of Bahrain

By Jamie Thompson The Kingdom is an archipelago of 40 islands situated in the Arabian Gulf - a number that is growing as new developments spring up across the Kingdom - placed midway between the Qatar peninsula and Saudi Arabia.

Bahrain is an Arabic word meaning "Two Seas", referring to the island's two sources of water, sweet water springs and salty water.

It is small in size in comparison with

Bahrain was once famous for its pearl fishermen and the quality of its pearls, but the emphasis changed in the 1930’s when the fist oil well in the whole of the region was drilled and oil discovered in commercial quantities. This led to the development of many oil wells in the country and the forming the Bahrain Petroleum Company (BAPCO).

Bahrain has a land area of 711 sq km and a population of around 730,000

stations on the island with 16 owned by BAPCO. They are all attendant operated and a unique problem here is that all the sites are very busy as the car to petrol station ratio is 8400 cars per service station compared with 2240 cars per station in the UK. The Government are hoping to increase the number of service stations on the island to reach a ratio of 4500 cars per station.

people the official language is Arabic but English is widely spoken and is the principal language for business.

There are at present 39 petrol

Many of the service stations are built to be similar to many others world wide with the newer sites adopting the principles laid down in the APEA/IP “Blue Book “ with double wall steel tanks and submersible pumps serving dispensers via double wall PE pipe work, with electronic gauges widely used.

Bapco in the past had sent some of its engineers on APEA training courses in the UK but in October 2007 invited the APEA to hold a series of especially adapted courses in Bahrain.

The courses held in Awali covered Construction and Environmental Awareness, Audit and Inspection and Electrical Engineering.

The courses were run by Gareth

“Construction Course”

its neighbours but has an important position in the area and contributed to the areas history by becoming the first country to discover oil in the region.

APEA Trainers , engineers and Bapco senior management

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Articles

A site inspection

Checking the dip stick

Bourhill, Jamie Thompson and Brian Baker and were well attended by a large group of interested engineers. And these courses also included some site visits.

The welcome the APEA training staff received was excellent and with the friendly Brian Baker finds the Tanker Drivers seat nature of all the people convinced the accent is with him for life! we met we had wonderful hospitality.

With a very full 5 days courses the One surprise was being engineers completed they’re training greeted by one young engineer enthusiastically with on-site inspections called Abdullatif Alsahhaf with and reporting on problems found. the thickest Scottish accent I have heard, it would appear that My comments were mainly restricted after 4 years in Scotland at to the heat during the on-site University the accent really inspections, with all of them telling me stuck and he was soon how pleasant the weather is this time of nicknamed “Wee Jimmy”. Our year. You should come in July I was told resident Scot Gareth Bourhill is it is really hot then +40°C! Thanks to my two colleagues on the course who also enjoyed this experience Gareth finding a fellow “Scot” in Bahrain and Brian for his frequent Arabic phrases, which we hope he got right!

Mr Adel Al Moayyed, General Manager of BASPCO (Bahrain) receiving the Mayor of Milton Keynes’ Council Plaque from Brian Baker

Carrying out a Bahrain Risk Assessment

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Articles

Interview with Anton Martiniussen, Elaflex Ltd

By Brian Baker Within our Industry we have numerous characters we immediately identify with a particular Company and our interview this time is with one of those – Anton Martiniussen – synonymous with Elaflex Limited – a leading supplier not just in the UK Market but throughout the world. I managed to catch up with Anton recently and managed to get this interview with him!

Anton Martiniussen

It is always a pleasure to catch up with you as a colleague I have known for some years now and want to clear up something straight away. You work for Elaflex, who is based in Germany, were are you exactly from?

I grew up in the Norwegian towns of Bergen and Stavanger and had an idyllic childhood growing up in the country side with skiing and skating in the winter and carefree adventures in the summer against a backdrop of fjords and hills. A lust for travel as a young man drew me to England. Like many before me I crossed the North Sea on the “England Boat” which sails between Stavanger and Newcastle.

You must have spent some years with Elaflex, tell me about how It all started and what your background is?

Later I worked out of the UK office for an American company involved in petroleum handling equipment with responsibility for countries in East, West and Central Africa, The Middle East, Europe and Scandinavia. This involved frequent travel for weeks at a time. I joined Elaflex Ltd 1987 when it was formed in a partnership with Permex.

You seem to combine a very good technique of a commercial skills combined with technical knowledge of the products you sell that I have spoken to you about on many occasions. How has that come about?

As an ambitious young man I was fortunate to have worked alongside some exceptional and extraordinary business people who have had considerable commercial skills and technical knowledge. In our business a balance between the two is beneficial.

As someone once said to me” you have to see it technically” Tell me more about Elaflex, where are they based and how did they start?

(Any photos would be good of Elaflex) ELAFLEX is based in Hamburg Germany. ELAFLEX LTD is situated in Hoddesdon in Hertfordshire. The origins of ELAFLEX date back some seventyfive years. Founded in Hamburg in1923 the company developed from a technical equipment distributor to an internationally recognised specialist in refuelling equipment. For the forecourt market we combine the ZVA family of nozzles with pump hoses, Safety Break couplings and nozzle accessories such as splash guards, scuff guards, anti kink sleeves etc.

My background was as the export business manager for a company based in Nottingham setting up distributors in Europe and Scandinavia selling industrial consumable products.

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When did we see the early automatic cut off nozzles we see today? My guess it would be around the mid 1960’s when Attended Self Service made its appearance in the UK. Can you shed some light on this?

Europe had a widespread self-service operation for many years. This made it necessary to develop a true “self service nozzle” customer-friendly and easy to handle. The nozzle had to be light-weight and ergonomically designed, robust, and provide “to-thepenny-dispensing.” Our philosophy that the nozzle could easily be repaired and even rebuilt was important and still is today as it means reusing the materials.

Some countries also demanded the use of the hold open latch.

Our nozzles experienced significant developments since 1962 together with the Slimline and C 16 petrol pump hoses. By the end of the century several ZVA ZVA200VR nozzle nozzle models had been successfully introduced to the market.

Globalization ongoing investment and development brought further growth to the business.

What would you say has been the best time of your career?

ELAFLEX HQ Hamburg

Anton Martiniussen in Egypt in the 80’s

We also supply rubber suction discharge hoses, expansion joints and couplings for handling a wide range of applications including aviation refuelling, fuel oil road tankers, LPG etc.

Our range of technical specialty hoses can handle almost any liquid.

For the ever increasing market demands ELAFLEX designed and developed the ZVA 200 GR Stage II vapour recovery nozzles to recover harmful vapours and the ZVA Diesel Drip Stop nozzle for a cleaner retail diesel site and more recently nozzles for AdBlue.

APEA tel/fax 0845 603 5507

Throughout my career I have always thought that each current phase of my career has been the best time. In the early years one is driven by the energy and exuberance of the challenge. I am fortunate in that I have always done a job that I find fascinating and exciting.

Even now the challenges are new but one has more experience with knowledge acquired.

I have to ask the question, was there a time when you felt that the industry is not so good?

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Articles From time to time there have been periods when the industry was insufficiently regulated not keeping pace with developments. Nor was one so aware of the possible dangers in the handling of petroleum spirit. It was not so good at the time when it was common place for a person to walk in front of a motor car waving a flag or the time when it was quite acceptable to carry petrol in glass bottles. The learning curve in the industry has been rapid and needs to be flexible enough to keep pace with safety requirements.

The forecourt equipment industry is constantly evolving, developing new products.

New materials and manufacturing techniques introduce new possibilities to do things more easily and handle ever more complex fuel mixtures. Safety regulations and standards need to be regularly updated to support safe and best practises.

So what is in store for Elaflex in the foreseeable future?

There is a lot of work going on with the regulations requiring Stage II VR. The deadline is soon so it’s important to plan ahead. The Forecourt Equipment Federation (FEF) has produced a code of practice. This is a good reference document. Later this year we will be

introducing the new ZVA Slimline 2 nozzle. Stainless steel tipped spout are supplied as standard on all Slimline nozzles. Our lightweight petrol pump hoses also provide easy fuelling for the motorist at the filling station. We will be exhibiting at the forecourt show later this year.

Elaflex as a company have been strong supporters of the APEA but then so have you personally with your input and activity as the Eastern Branch Secretary and Treasurer, something you have held for some years now. Tell me about your involvement in the APEA and the Eastern Branch in particular?

The APEA Branches represent members from various areas of the country. I have been involved with the APEA for about 20 years and was initially “volunteered” to take on the role of Secretary of the Eastern Branch. I like to think that we have an active branch providing regular meetings with stimulating debates at interesting venues with a variety of speakers who present new products and technologies.

Some years ago the APEA honoured me with a fellowship of the APEA. The APEA provides an excellent forum where members can meet and share knowledge. Any members who have not

yet been to a branch meeting is always welcome to attend.

Now Anton – you are not out there selling nozzles all the time, so what do you do in your pleasure time and what do you to relax?

I enjoy leisure travelling, walking.

Reading about history and current affairs. Visiting art galleries and going to matches at Old Trafford.

Finally, what would you like to see change in the industry? Is there anything that you feel would improve in what we do?

There has been talk about how to bring young people into the industry.

The APEA should consider playing a part to encourage schools and industry to develop initiatives and apprenticeships. It’s important that engineering excellence is maintained and supported by the industry. Quality engineered products will always provide the best performance. Imitations are a false economy.

Thanks Anton, as always willing to share your thoughts and a big thank you from us all on Council of the Association for what you do.

Addendum to approve code of practice and guidance for the unloading of petrol from road tankers

By Mike Harding, UKPIA Recent improvements in technology have enabled companies supplying petrol to retail outlets to remotely manage and control stock levels at these outlets from a central location; this location need not be located in the UK. The guidance contained in the Approve Code of Practice for the Unloading of Petrol from Road Tankers prevents these suppliers using fully the advantages provided by this new technology. This addendum will enable those companies using remote stock control, to manage deliveries to retail outlets effectively and efficiently.

This addendum provides alternative definitions for a Site Operator and a Competent Person that can be used with the main body of this ACoP. It also allows for the provision of ullage information to a tanker driver by electronic means provided this information has been first checked by the Site Operator as defined in this addendum.

Alternative Definitions Used in This Addendum The following definitions apply where

stock is controlled remotely by the oil company using electronic gauge measuring systems.

Site Operator. The Site Operator is the person appointed by the consignor’s controlling authority as being responsible for: a. Control of the measuring systems. b. Stock control at the remote retail outlet. c. Determining the safe ullage information at the remote retail outlet. d. Provision of this safe information to the driver.

ullage

Competent Person. The Competent Person is the suitably trained and ADR licensed tanker driver who has been provided with the safe ullage information for a specified delivery by the consignor’s designated Site Operator. It is the responsibility of the Site Operator to ensure that anyone appointed as a Competent Person

APEA tel/fax 0845 603 5507

under this definition has the necessary competence to perform the activity safely. Competence is usually gained by a combination of training and experience and is not directly age dependent. The consignor is to keep a list centrally of all persons appointed as a Competent Person under this definition.

ACoP EXTRACT 29. Adequate information about the ullage of each storage tank at the site should be available, at the time of delivery, to any tanker driver who is to unload petrol there.

Additional Guidance to ACoP Paragraph 29. The ullage information provided for the tanker driver should be in printed format and may be given to him by any electronic means that enables a hard copy to be produced.

The information on this hard copy must have been verified by the Site Operator before it is transmitted to the tanker driver. The tanker driver must also verify the information using on-site systems.

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APEA Yearbook 2009 Registration

By Jane Mardell, APEA Business Manager I am writing this article this year to make sure you understand the procedures for inclusion in the 2009 Yearbook.

In order to ensure that your details are included in the Yearbook it is essential that you complete the registration form and return it to the APEA office.

I register all forms received on the membership database against the members’ name.

As shown on the form enclosed with this issue of the Bulletin, your Registration Form must be returned to the APEA office for your details to be included by 1st April. This ensures that the information in the Yearbook is correct.

Even if you do not wish to advertise in the Yearbook, to be included in the

Classified and Directory pages you should complete the form as follows: 1. Check your contact details are correct on the form and that these are the contact details that you wish to be included into the Yearbook. If you wish to change them please amend the form. As an APEA member you receive one free ‘Classified’ entry.

2. Complete the Directory table.

This contains a list of the Directories that will be included in the Yearbook.

Please tick the box next to the Directory listing that is relevant for your business. You receive one free box. Additional boxes are charged @ £26.00 plus VAT. 3. If

you

have

ticked

additional

Southern

The autumn meeting of the Southern branch was held on Thursday 1st November 2007 at Taunton Vale Golf Club; 23 members were in attendance.

The first speaker of the day was Rodney Carter of Petroman, who gave an in depth talk on stage 2 PVR, and its correlation with stage 1b, giving a total vapour system.

Rodney explained that the whole project could be turned into a protected investment, which could incorporate 62

I will then record the details from Registration forms received.

If you have any queries or need another form or a advertising booking form please do not hesitate to contact me at the APEA office on 0845 603 5507 or by email at admin@apea.org.uk Additional forms can be downloaded from the APEA website on the Publications page at www.apea.org.uk

2. Branch reps. have been tasked with looking at the structure of membership with a view to possibly ceasing corporate membership.

Any views/comments on this matter should be forwarded to Phil.

Branch Meeting 1st November 2007.

Unfortunately, Rex Wheeler was not able to give attend as scheduled, due to illness; we all hope he had a speedy recovery, and his presentation will be given at a future meeting.

4. Fax or post the form to the APEA office by 1st April 2008. This enables the production of the Yearbook in time for Autumn delivery.

available to all branches that submit firm proposals for this purpose.

Branches

An opening address was given by the branch Chairman, Barry Jenner, explaining that the committee were considering inviting companies to give presentations on new products at future meetings, from a technical and operational aspect; this was agreed by all as being a good idea, and will be introduced into future meetings.

‘Directory’ boxes, complete the payment box at the bottom of the form.

Rodney Carter

secondary processing and clean air systems.

Rodney then concluded with a brief presentation on solving the problem of water in biodiesel; a product called ‘Bug Buster’ can be used to break down the interface between product and water, with the water being held in suspension for subsequent removal.

Following lunch, Phil Monger informed the meeting of feedback from recent council meetings, namely : 1. 2008 will mark the 50th anniversary of the APEA, which should be celebrated accordingly; council have advised that funds will be made

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3. The annual exhibition, conference and dinner was deemed to be an overall success; again, any views/comments and ideas for improvement should be forwarded to Phil.

It is understood that Telford has been provisionally booked for 2008, although other venues are still being considered.

Jack Brinkhurst of the LFEPA then gave a short member’s profile, which was very well received.

The final presentation was given by Ariff Patel of Bioremedia on ‘PRP – the friendly way of dealing with oil spillages naturally’.

The beeswax based product has natural biodegradable properties, and does not require contamination classification for disposal.

Various samples were passed around

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Barry Jenner closed the meeting at 2.15p.m., informing all present that the next branch meeting is set for Tuesday 15th January 2008 at Marlborough Golf Club.

The committee would like to thank all the speakers for making long journeys to give their presentations; it is much appreciated.

Attendance to Beaulieu will be limited to 60 members.

The first speaker of the day was Rex Wheeler on the draft energy institute model code of safe practice for entry into underground storage tanks at filling stations, which included: • Statutory legislation and regulations.

Branch Meeting 15th January 2008.

Ariff Patel

for inspection; it is worth mentioning that PRP has been nominated for the NASA hall of fame, which is quite an achievement.

Delegates from the meeting

64

The winter meeting of the Southern branch was held on Tuesday 15th February 2008 at Marlborough Golf Club, with a more than average attendance of 40 members.

The branch Chairman, Barry Jenner, gave an opening address, welcomed all those who had braved the inclement weather to attend.

Barry advised the meeting that the AGM will be held at BEN in Ascot on Tuesday 15th April 2008, and that the summer meeting will be held on Thursday 10th July at Beaulieu Motor Museum; this venue was especially chosen to celebrate the 50th anniversary of our association.

APEA tel/fax 0845 603 5507

• Confined space risks and criteria prior to entry.

• Common hazards of conditions/permit to work.

• Equipment and services.

work

Rex hopes that this will be published around the end of March 2008.

Rex Wheeler

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The second speaker was Ronald Meurs of E Meurs BV on automatic temperature compensation at fuel pumps.

Ronald explained how a temperature compensation unit can be retrofitted to existing fuel pumps.

An extract of a Dutch TV consumer programme was shown, which clearly demonstrated the differences in the amount of fuel being issued at varying temperatures.

It will shortly be compulsory in Belgium to have ATC equipment fitted to all fuel pumps.

Page 65

also played a vital role in the Second World War, firstly as an RAF fighter station and later as an American fighter base. After the presentation there was a guided tour of the Battle of Britain hangar with some time left to view the other hangars showing the extensive and marvellous collection of aircraft and vehicles at this historical place.

Steve Otty

meeting ended at 2.30 p.m.

The committee would again like to thank all speakers and members for making the day informative and enjoyable.

Sue Meadowcroft Branch Secretary Eastern

Ronald Meurs

Following lunch, a member’s profile was given by Barry Doul of Fire Safety First, which was very well received.

The Eastern Branch Workshop meeting and early Christmas lunch took place at the Imperial War Museum, Duxford, Cambridgeshire on Friday 14th December 2007.

This is a marvellous facility.

Duxford is Europe's premier aviation museum as well as having one of the finest collections of tanks, military vehicles and naval exhibits in the country.

This famous heritage site began as an airfield in the First World War and

The meeting was exceptionally well attended even for the Christmas event something which has become a tradition for the Eastern Branch’s December meeting. It was particularly pleasing to see new faces as well those we haven’t seen for sometime and others who also brought colleagues along. As usual it was a stimulating agenda with interesting speakers. Sam Davidson the Transport Manager of Hoyer’s Road Tanker fleet talked on his company’s training programme dealing specifically with fatigue and cause and effect. This is a presentation that many more companies should take advantage of as it does not only affect companies but all of us as individuals and the responsibilities we have driving motor vehicles.

Our second speaker was Phil Webb from the AA. Phil brought along their specialised vehicle which many of you will have seen on TV which is particularly useful if there has been a misfuelling. The “Fuel Assist” operation is pretty much a self-contained vehicle which the AA, for a fee, can remove the wrongly filled fuel. More information is available from their web site.

A good lunch followed the presentation in the “Marshall room” and was enjoyed by everyone.

The next Eastern Branch meeting is expected to take place in April. The date

The last speaker of the day was Steve Otty from Sira on modification of ATEX approved dispensers.

Steve gave a brief history of the company and explained the different work areas and equipment tested by Sira.

Steve advised the biggest benefit of the ATEX directive given in 2003 was transferable certification spanning the single European market, with few exemptions, such as medical use, military and domestic installations.

A brief Q&A session followed, and the

Members from Eastern Branch at Duxford

APEA tel/fax 0845 603 5507

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Branches Ireland

Geoff Clements

has not yet been fixed as we are trying to make it a special event to celebrate the 50 year anniversary of the APEA and the Eastern Branch wants to play its part in this. If you would like to give a talk or can provide us with something of particular interest to commemorate the 50th anniversary please contact me directly. We look forward to seeing you at the next meeting. I would lke to remind everyone that the next meeting is also the AGM so please let me know soonest if you would like to participate

in serving and contributing to the health of te Eastern Branch. The branch is there to serve your interest and facilitate debate and presentation of topics and equipment that affect our industry The secretary looks forward to hearing from you. He can be reached at the below address details

The APEA / Irish Branch was reformed on 25th September 2006, having being dormant from the mid 1990’s [ after an existence then of about 3yrs – fewer involved / took on too much / got burned out !]

We should record our sincere thanks to Jamie Thompson, Brian Baker and Brian Humm from the Central Administrative Council for attending to help initiate proceedings, give introductory presentations and “press gang” a Branch Committee into place – all with the purpose of taking the Irish Branch forward once again. The Committee volunteers were confirmed by an attendance of about 35 interested members out of a then total membership of about 70 individuals – excluding corporates.

The current serving Committee is as follows :Chairman Tom Daly, Dublin Fire Brigade

Kind regards

Vice Chairman Kevin Wright, Pumps & Fuel

Anton Martiniussen Branch Secretary and Treasurer

Secretary Michael O’Kane, MOK+A Consultants Treasurer Mark Elmore, Elmore Group Branch Rep. to Central Council Philip Bonny, Suresite N.I. Committee members:.

Alan Pollock, Maxol Clive Dukes, Ballymena Council Brian Fitzgibbon, Forecourt Dimensions Maureen Briggs, Craigavon Council The Branch Committee met on six occasions during 2007 and focused primarily on consolidating the existence of the Branch – being conscious of the short life of the 1990’s previous active period.

Brian could not continue to give an ongoing commitment due to pressure of work. Maureen was co-opted to replace Brian for the 2nd part of the term The main undertaking of the Branch during 2007 was the Seminar held on 22nd May in the Red Cow Hotel, Dublin.

The Seminar attracted 39 attendees.

APEA Central Council Chairman, Bob Conlin - Fairbanks Environmental UK, very kindly accepted an invitation to address the gathering and outlined his mission/vision statement for his term of office. The Irish Branch were honoured to receive Bob and further encouraged by his own ambitions and good wishes for our endeavours. We should record our sincere thanks to Bob for taking the time and trouble to be with us (and to

Rodney Carter & Anton Martiniussen

Attentive Listeners

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Branches battle through Dublin Airport, across the M50, via the notorious West Link Toll not to mention the final obstacle of the Red Cow roundabout - we still have to send him his “I survived the M50” tee shirt !).

The serving Committee members have been generous with their time and efforts over the past 15 months and have shown a resolute determination to see the Irish Branch lay a solid foundation, build a strong representative body and represent Oil Industry technical practitioners in Ireland. The current Irish Branch stands at approximately 78 individual members drawn from all sections across Oil Companies, Equipment Suppliers, Service Contractors, Consultants, Regulators. There are 16 listed Corporate Members reflecting a similar background. Through 2007 there has been a steady trickle of recruits into the Irish Branch - a membership of excess 100 can reasonably be forecast in the near future providing a significant forum for matters of common concern.

Therefore the continuing Branch Committee will have substantial responsibility/accountability in dealing with new fuels, technology advances, improved operating practices and not least any updated regulation for the service of Irish members and with the benefit of access to the greater APEA network.

Midlands Nothing to report at present North East Nothing to report at present North West Nothing to report at present

Branch Representative and Secretary Contact Details Eastern Ian Taylor - Rep Fenstanton Manor, Cambridge Road Fenstanton, Cambridge PE28 9HS Tel: 01480 463 739 Mob: 07768 552072 iantaylor@enterprise.net Anton Martiniussen - Sec ELAFLEX Ltd Riverside House, Hoddesdon, Herts EN11 0PA Tel: 01992 452 950 Mob: 07831 595620 email: elaflex@aol.com

Deeside, Flintshire CH5 2NS Tel: 01244285815 email: john.bruce@davidmclean.co.uk Scotland Ian Hillier - Rep Inverclyde Council Municipal Buildings, Clyde Square, Greenock PA15 1LY Tel: 01475 717171 Fax: 01475 712747 email: ian.hiller@inverclyde.gov.uk Paul Devine - Sec South Lanarkshire Council Consumer and Trading Standards North Stand, Cadzow Avenue Hamilton ML3 0LU Tel: 01698 476170 Fax: 01698 476180 Mobile: 07795 090903 email: paul.devine@southlanarkshire.gov.uk Southern Philip Monger - Rep Petrol Retailers Association Meadowside, West End, Sherbourne St John, Basingstoke, Hants.

RG24 9LE. Tel: 01256 850164 Fax: 01256 851273 email: phil.monger@ukonline.co.uk

Midlands Michael O'Kane Branch Secretary Scotland At our latest committee meeting it was agreed to arrange dates for our AGM and autumn meeting in order to give members the earliest opportunity to make arrangements to attend.

We are fortunate to have at our disposal a venue in Stirling courtesy of Forth Valley College.

Dates have been confirmed for the 17th April 08 for the AGM and the 16th October 08 for the autumn meeting at The "Stirling Centre" Kerse Road Stirling.

Details of speakers and directions will be made available in the calling notice for the meeting.

Members of the branch are reminded that we are currently collating numbers wishing to attend the national conference in Telford on the 23rd October 08. We are in the process of arranging travel arrangements for the event; if anyone wishes to be included in the branch arrangements could they please contact a member of the committee soon to allow us to finalise arrangements.

Paul Devine Branch Secretary

Tom Hocking - Rep D Berry & Co (PFS) Ltd Unit 130 Middlemore Ind Estate Kentish Road, Birmingham B21 0AY Tel: 0121 558 4411 email: enquiries@dberryandco.co.uk

Sue Meadowcroft - Sec 1 Rock Cottage, South Cornelly Bridgend CF33 4RN Tel: 07795 841891 email: sue@high-cross.com

Tom Wigfull - Sec John Wigfull and Co Ltd First Hangings, Blaby Road, Enderby, Leicester LE19 4AQ Tel:0116 2862287 email: wigfullfamily@btinternet.com

Ireland

North East

Michael O’Kane - Irish Sec Michael O'Kane Associates Gransha Beg, 27a Gilford Park, Sandymount, Dublin 4, Ireland Tel: +44 353 87 2671675 Mob: +44 (0) 7718 146033 email: mokplusa@eircom.net

Mike Silmon - Rep and Sec W O Silmon Ltd Industry Road, Heaton Newcastle upon Tyne Tyne & Wear NE6 5XB. Tel: 0191 224 0777 Fax: 0191 224 0707 email: associationtreasurer@apea.org.uk North West John Bruce - Acting Sec David McLean Contractors Ltd 28 Parkway Deesside Industrial Park, Deeside

APEA tel/fax 0845 603 5507

Philip Bonny - Rep 205 Dundrum Road Newcastle, Co Down, BT33 0LW email: phil.bonny@suresite.co.uk

Cyprus George Gregoras - Rep and Sec Hellenic Petroleum Cyprus Ltd 1st Erecthiou Str., 2413, Engomi Nicosia, Cyprus Tel: +357 22 477000 Fax: +357 22 453792 email: ggregoras@hellenic-petroleum.gr 67

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Training

2008 Course Dates Petrol Filling Stations Construction, Safety and Environmental Protection 2/3rd April Manchester 14/15th May Exeter 18/19th June Luton 15/16th September Dublin 17/18th November Glasgow

Electrical Installations An Awareness 13th Feb

Luton

12th Mar

Manchester

23rd April

Southampton

21st May

Cardiff

11th June

Derby

4 Sept

Newcastle

11 Sept

Manchester

24 Sept

Luton

25 Sept

Cardiff

LPG Installations 30 April

Bexleyheath

21 May

Derby

30 Oct

York

Wetstock Management

8/9th December Manchester

22nd April

Luton

Petrol Filling Stations Risk Assessment, Audit and Inspection

17th June

Manchester

23rd Sept

Southampton

9/10 April Southampton 30 April & 1 May Cardiff

Explosives and Fireworks

New For 2008 Petrol Filling Stations – Enforcement Procedures An Awareness (One day) 6 hours Continued Professional Development

DSEAR 16th April

Manchester

8 Sept

Luton

7th May

Bexleyheath

22 Sept

Manchester

4/5 June Sheffield

11th June

Cardiff

20 Oct

Southampton

25/26 June Manchester

9th July

Sheffield

27 Oct

Derby

17/18 September Dublin

10th Sept

Glasgow

10 Nov

Cardiff

15th Oct

Newcastle

24 Nov

Birmingham

12th Nov

Luton

8 Dec

Swindon

3rd Dec

Manchester

15 Dec

York

21/22 May Luton

22/23 October Glasgow 26/27 November Newcastle

Courses will be designed around the new TCB Document, Guidance for Design, Construction, Modification, Maintenance and Decommissioning of Filling Stations.

Please contact the APEA Business Manager on 0845 603 5507 or at admin@apea.org.uk if you wish to find out about purchasing a copy. APEA Members can purchase the guide at the discounted rate of £40 (non member rate £120).

It is strongly recommended that attendees have access to this document during courses.

All courses can be booked online at www.apea.org.uk on the ‘Training’ page.

Bespoke courses can be made available provided the minimum number of Delegates is 8. This offers a discount.

For details of this and any other training enquiry, please contact: Jane Mardell - Training Coordinator, (contact details on page 3) or Brian Humm, Training Chairman 84 Dunblane Road, Eltham, London SE9 6RT Mobile: 07818 097141 e-mail: brian.humm@london-fire.gov.uk 68

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Training

NEW FOR 2008!

Petrol Filling StationsEnforcement Procedures An Awareness Description This Course has been designed to provide a practical approach in the enforcement techniques on petroleum licensed premises and the various options that can be applied. A must for anyone involved in Petroleum Legislation. It provides for an understanding of how Notices are served, what is involved in interviewing techniques through to going to Court. The course content is comprehensive though it can only serve as an overview and is not substitute for formal legal training.

Who Should Attend?

Petroleum Officers Environmental Health Officers Trading Standard Officers Fire Safety Officers Environmental Agency Staff Company Health & Safety Practitioners Engineers and Project Managers

Subjects Covered; Legal Sections of the Petroleum (Consolidation) Act 1928 Legal Sections of Dangerous Substances & Explosives Atmospheres Regulations 2002 Other Minor Petroleum Legislation Main provisions of the Health & Safety at Work etc Act 1974 Sections 2 3 19 20 36 Limitations of Powers Health & Safety Executive and Local Authorities Interface Practical Advice on using the Powers & Enforcement Options under the Act Responsible Person & Corporate Manslaughter Enforcement Policies (HSE) & Enforcement Concordat - LAPS and LOPPS Types of Notices, Wording and the Use of Schedules Enforcement Management Model Service Options - Appeals & Employment Tribunals Desk Top Exercise - Drafting Notices Entry Warrants - Sampling, Seizure and Detention Types of evidence - Accountability and Train of Evidence Interviews Section 9 Section 20 and PACE Friskies Schedules and Newton Hearings Preparing, Protocols, Legal Team and Giving Evidence Other Professional - LBRO The course will be invaluable for those involved in the inspection and enforcement of legal requirements on Petrol Filling Stations Each Delegate will receive a Continued Development Certificate (CPD) for 6 hours

Fees APEA Members: £185.00 plus vat Non-Members.: £235.00 plus vat Price includes all Refreshments, Lunch, Course Handout Material and Presentation Certificate.

NB: Any non APEA members now booking courses, automatically qualify for membership of the APEA, please complete the details on the training booking form that you wish for correspondence to be sent to or alternatively email the APEA Business Manager.

APEA tel/fax 0845 603 5507

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Training Vapour Recovery - In preparation

throughout the UK that will be;

Bespoke courses – if your company

Manchester, Glasgow, Luton,

or organisation has 6 delegates or

Southampton, Derby, Cardiff, Ipswich

more, and can provide a training

and Exeter. Please note that places

venue then substantial savings can

on each course are restricted.

be made.

the first to learn about these new

All courses are being run in close

Please contact the APEA business

legal requirements. Course will

proximity of major airports to facilitate

manager or the training chairman for

initially be held in key locations

overseas delegates.

a quote.

ready late 2008 It is hoped to have this one day course ready sometime in 2008 so if you are interested please register your intention to attend and be one of

APEA launch new one day course on Vapour Recovery

After some delays, the Government have now committed a date for compliance to the EEC Emissions Directive and in particular, the thresholds for sites that are required to install Vapour Recovery Stage 2 equipment. Consequently work has now been finalised for this new Course to be available

Suitable for all Regulators, Petrol Retailers, Contractors, Designers and Consultants, the course covers the legal aspects of European & British Law, Content for Vapour Recovery Permits, a detailed explanation of Stage 1a, 1b and Stage 2 including the various components involved and their function. The course also includes a visit to a site having both Stage 1b & 2 systems.

APEA Training Team Jamie Thompson Independent Consultant Brian Humm Deputy Head of Petroleum LFEPA Brian Baker Fire Safety & Petroleum Officer Milton Keynes Council Gareth Bourhill Principal Training Consultant -

Obituary Karlheinz Ehlers ELAFLEX 28. February 1926 30. November 2007 At the beginning of the sixties Karlheinz Ehlers developed the ZVA family of nozzles.

He was an entrepreneur in pursuit of engineering excellence and was a pioneering entrepreneur. For sixty years he led his company, and with his ingenuity built it up into a significant international business. It was granted to Karlheinz Ehlers to maintain his company as a family business, which he led to the end with determination and 70

Electrical Safety Forth Valley College of Further and Higher Education

Bob Conlin Director Fairbanks Environmental

Richard Wigfull Consulting Engineer J. Wigfull & Son

Tom Armstrong Senior Project Engineer

Phil Lambeth Senior Engineer BP Global Alliance

Joe Maerz Operational Manager Rural & Public Protection Team Essex Trading Standards

Kim Bennett, Senior Environmental Health Officer Milton Keynes Council

Jean Fincken Petroleum Inspector LFEPA

energy. His guiding principles were those of a true 'Hanseat', one could rely on his word. An important concern for him was the care and welfare of his employees and his strong conviction in Germany as a production and company base.

With respect and thankfulness we commemorate his life-time achievement.

For the continuation of the company, we are committed to his convictions and aims.

Our deepest sympathy goes to the family

APEA tel/fax 0845 603 5507