Liquefied petroleum gas phase out slammed by motorists in Christmas crisis

Regional motorists have slammed a critical phase out across our region, in a move they see as ruining Christmas and disrupting school holidays.

A major servo chain’s move to phase out a type of fuel is hitting rural residents hard, with hundreds of kilometres between them and the nearest bowser.

LPG – liquefied petroleum gas – is a type of car fuel which used to be cheap, but over recent years has begun to be phased out by motoring companies to reduce emissions.

LPG usage has decreased year on year, falling 75 per cent since 2000, with a main reason being LPG-running cars have slowly ended production in Australia.

In Australia, LPG-fitted cars were made by Ford and Holden, which ended production in 2016 and 2015 respectively, and are coming up on the average end of their lifespan.

Historically, LPG has always been a cheap and reliable fuel source for the cars that could take it, usually more than half the price of regular unleaded.

Ampol at Warwick (Photo: Commo)

Warwick mum Ally-Marie Diamond said the phasing out of the fuel was “catastrophic” in regional towns.

“(For) so many struggling financially, LPG is a godsend to keep costs low,” she said.

“My daughter is past Goondiwindi and now I cannot go see her for Christmas because (Ampol) have decided to remove their LPG when they are the only place in town you can get it from,” Ms Diamond said.

Being a single mum in a cost of living crisis can be tough at the best of times, but Ms Diamond’s dilemma could even ruin Christmas.

Ms Diamond said she had only bought her LPG dependant vehicle a month ago, a 2012 Ford Falcon, under the impression it would be a solid daily driver to get from A to B.

What she couldn’t predict however, is that decision by Ampol to part ways with LPG at it’s regional service stations. With now only one service station in town delivering LPG, Ms Diamond says this is impacting by limited hours.

“I wouldn’t have bought this car if I knew LPG would be discontinued in Warwick. We are car dependant and have family in Brisbane and near Goondiwindi, you need a car to get around,” the mum said.

“I’m incredibly disappointed in Ampol, now there is only one service station in the area that has LPG, but they’re only open limited hours. If there was an emergency, I’d have to go to Allora (a near-50 km round trip),” she said.

Ms Diamond plans to travel to Goondiwindi to visit her daughter at Christmas, which could be ruined as the only place to do LPG fuel in Goondiwindi has a broken bowser.

“So many families would be travelling over Christmas? So many people still rely on the fuel over Christmas. Regional towns are doing it really tough at the moment, and when we have to travel so far and we don’t have public transport, we rely on cars,” she said.

“Ampol told me they were discontinuing all LPG by the end of 2025.

“To change my car to petrol or dual fuel, it would cost me at least five thousand dollars, and I just bought my car, I wouldn’t have bought it otherwise.

“I spoke to someone at Goondiwindi who said people in the town rely on LPG and are renting cars because they can’t fuel up their cars. That’s absolutely crazy.”

Ms Diamond said the corporation’s move was a “massive financial blow” during the Christmas season, which is “already a really tough time.”

“I think Ampol need to rethink this phase out in regional towns, that’s a major issue in an already struggling areas,” she said.

“This is a huge disservice to regional communities. For them to do this is just heartless. We rely so heavily on vehicles here.”

Ampol have been contacted for comment.

Originally published as Liquefied petroleum gas phase out slammed by motorists in Christmas crisis