§ Mr. AmessTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what his estimate is of the total number of public forecourt refuelling stations and sites in the UK; how many of these provided LPG(a) in the first quarter 1999, (b) in the first quarter 2000 and (c) at the latest date for which figures are available; and what estimates he has on the future rate of increase of public forecourt LPG refuelling sites. [146631]
§ Mr. HillAt the end of December 1999, there were some 13,700 branded forecourt refuelling stations in the UK.
Currently there are approximately 230 forecourt sites that retail LPG, an increase of over 100 in the last 12 months. Figures dealing with the number of sites in the first quarter of 1999 are unavailable. My Department estimates that the number of LPG refuelling sites in total will rise to over 1,000 by the end of 2001, with approximately one third of these expected to be public forecourt stations.