Last Townsville servo to carry LPG phases it out

A Queensland mother went to fill her car with LPG and was shocked to find out the last fuel station in her regional city has phased it out. Here’s why.

India Sparks and 15 month old daughter Violet with their car stuck at Townsville’s Sealink terminal. There is nowhere to refuel the Ford Falcon, which runs entirely on LPG. Picture: Chris Burns

The last fuel station to offer LPG in Townsville has decided to phase it out, which caught a Magnetic Island mother by surprise when she ferried her car to the city to refuel.

The car now waits at the Sealink terminal with less than 30km to go until it runs out, with its owner India Sparks, 21, wondering where else she can go to refuel.

RACQ’s fair fuel finder identifies one service station in Townsville that stocked LPG, but Ms Sparks said when she visited the station to fuel up on Monday she was told by staff that it no longer supplied it.

Despite LPG not being entirely phased out by 2045, the closest stations to offer LPG were a Mobil in Innisfail and an Ampol in Mackay.

The fuel source is being gradually phased out as part of a shift to renewable hydrogen throughout the fuel and energy sectors.

21 year old mother India Sparks with her 15 month old daughter Violet and LPG run car which is stuck at Townsville's Sealink terminal because there's nowhere to refuel it.

After calling fuel stations across the city she conceded there was nowhere else she could go.

“It’s been really frustrating because we weren’t warned about it at all, I just went to the servo one day out of the blue and they’ve got none of the petrol we rely on, so yeah, we’re just trying to take it one step at a time and figure out exactly what we’re going to do car wise.”

Ms Sparks said she lived in Palm Cove in Cairns and that her family had two cars, with the LPG run Ford Falcon being used as a back-up option.

But heavy flooding late last year wrecked her first car and also motivated her to move south with her siblings to Magnetic Island.

She would need to ferry the car across to the mainland every few weeks to refuel.

“My daughter’s father’s (car) was LPG because it was cheap and we’re a young family so we didn’t really have the funds for anything special,” she said.

“We are trying to source a different car but at the moment we didn't have the funds for one, so we’re just trying to figure it out.

“Luckily at the moment we have got family that can help us to a point with getting around.”

Staff at another service station which used to carry LPG said it was expensive to maintain and there was “definitely a cost factor involved” of thousands of dollars to replace.

While fewer people were asking for LGP it was still being requested by southern based visitors.

Originally published as Last Townsville servo to carry LPG phases it out