HC Deb 16 November 1992 vol 214 cc12-3W
Mr. Steen

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many gallons of rape seed oil have been imported from Italy to run public transport buses; how many buses are currently run on rape seed oil; where the buses operate; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Freeman

For a trial period of three months, Reading Buses will run three of its fleet of 200 vehicles on rape methyl ester (RME), which is manufactured from rape seed oil and methanol. For this purpose 5,000 gallons of RME have been made available at no cost by an Italian producer who had obtained EC funding to make fuel available for limited trials. The vehicles will operate in Reading.

I was pleased to inaugurate the trial at the beginning of this month. The Department of Transport, in conjunction with our Transport Research Laboratory, will be monitoring the pollutant emissions performance.