16. Mr. De laèreasked the Minister of Fuel and Power whether the Government will give an assurance that the practice of ordering garages selling coupon-free petrol substitutes to surrender some of their coupons will be stopped immediately.
§ The Minister of Fuel and Power (Mr. Philip Noel-Baker)I am afraid that I cannot give the hon. Gentleman the general assurance for which he asks. I can, however, assure him that garages which sell coupon-free petrol substitutes will be dealt with in the same way as other garages; in other words, their sale of these substitutes will not affect their holding of petrol and coupons.
Mr. De la BèreWhy is it not possible to give the assurance? Why cannot the Minister give a ready answer, without this indefinite delay? We must know where we stand.
§ Mr. Noel-BakerI will tell the hon. Member why. Every garage owner is given what is called a float of petrol in stock and coupons. If he turned over one pump to a substitute he might sell less petrol. If that float remained unchanged then the petrol might pass into unauthorised use, whereas if he sold the same amount of petrol then his float would be unaffected.