Glasgow taxi drivers forced off the road amid LPG fuel shortage

A 65-year-old hackney driver from Glasgow, who wanted to be identified as “Bob”, had seen his earnings slashed by 60% over the past weekend.

Now, he says he has been unable to work for the last three days, as all the petrol stations in the area, and as far as Livingston and Kilmarnock, have run out of LPG.

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He said: “In the past week I’ve done less than a third of my work. This is my livelihood.

“In the whole of Glasgow, and I suspect in Edinburgh too, there is nowhere you can go to pick up gas for your taxi.

“Shortages happened before, but we’ve never seen anything like this.”

LPG, or liquified petroleum gas, is a by-product of oil that can be used as a cheaper and more environmentally-friendly alternative to petrol.

Glasgow taxi drivers had been encouraged to have their vehicles "repowered" to LPG fuel, in order to comply with the forthcoming LEZ regulations.

It costs 40% less on average and emits lower CO2 levels, compared to traditional fuels.

While LPG-converted taxis can still run on petrol, the auxiliary tank is too small and does not allow for longer-distance rides, forcing taxi drivers to refuse hires.

“A full petrol tank on a repowered taxi gives you a range of 35 miles,” added Bob.

“It’s a very heavy restriction on your earnings, you could probably do two or three rides with that, but that’s if they’re just local, the problem is we rely on longer rides.

“For instance, if someone gets into your taxi and says ‘Can you get us to Edinburgh?’ you can’t.”

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Bob said at least another 60 to 70 drivers would be in the same position.

He added they were encouraged by the Council to apply to Transport Scotland’s LEZ Support Fund to bring their taxis to Euro 6 compliance for the Low Emission Zone coming into force next year.

With grants covering up to 80% of the cost of retrofitting, Bob said he still had to pay £2,600 for his vehicle’s conversion, which came down to £12,600.

Taxi drivers have been forced to revert to petrol amid the LPG shortage.

“My diesel engine was fine. If I had known, I wouldn’t have got it,” he continued.

“We listened to all the experts saying ‘change your vehicle over to LPG, it’s better for the environment, for the city, etc’, and now we find ourselves in a position where there’s no fuel available.”

Steven Grant, secretary at Unite’s Glasgow Cab Section, said the union has been aware of the issue for some time and considers LPG to be “dead technology”.

He added: “Companies such as BP and Shell are moving away from supplying LPG as the demand gets weaker.

“In the last three or four months, we have had members complain about sourcing the fuel.

“This came to a head this weekend with over 50 cabs off the road due to zero provision of LPG in Glasgow and beyond.

“At present, the fleet has 1021 LEZ non-compliant taxis. With LPG removed as an option, over 500 cabs will have to be replaced. It will be impossible to do this due to a collapse in the new and used market.

“The taxi trade will not have anywhere near the capacity it currently has after LEZ enforcement in June 2023, of that I have no doubt."

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Glasgow Taxis chairman Dougie McPherson expressed sympathy for the drivers affected.

He said: “The lack of availability of LPG gives cause for concern at the moment, and any prolonged supply issues could cast doubt over its longevity as a project.

"The irony can't be lost that these are drivers who serve the city and have stepped up and invested to try to help meet its cleaner air ambitions, yet are currently unable to operate and are tied into deals.

“This weekend saw drivers travelling to Kilmarnock to seek LPG. This situation cannot continue.”

“We are seeking reassurances that this is only a temporary supply issue and we will feed any response back to our affected drivers.”

LPG fuel is more environmentally-friendly as it emits lower levels of CO2.

A spokeswoman for Glasgow City Council said the LEZ is a necessary measure to reach air quality targets.

She added: “Existing non-compliant vehicles may be able to achieve emissions compliance by the retrofitting of an approved technology.

“LPG conversion has been added to the funded retrofits options for one model of taxi used in Glasgow, with the council accepting these conversions as evidence of LEZ compliance.

“We will continue to engage and liaise with taxi operators to support compliance with Glasgow’s LEZ.”

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The UK Government, who is responsible for security of energy supply, said there are “two major supply points in Scotland for LPG in a competitive market” and they have worked with the industry to make sure that they “prioritise supplies on this”.

Attempts were made to establish the cause of the shortage, but both the Scottish Government and the UK Government were unable to provide further information.