News
Malton fuel
depot open after
transformation
F
ollowing a £400,000 investment, Rix
Petroleum opened its Stones Fuel Oils
depot in Malton, North Yorkshire to the
public in March. With fuel storage capacity
increased by 50,000 litres, the offices and wider
site have also been fully refurbished.
Rix Petroleum acquired Stones Fuel Oils in
November 2017 from Geoff Stone, well-known
local businessman and son of the founder,
Geoff agreed to sell to Rix on his retirement
because, as another local, family firm, he was
confident the business would uphold the values
on which Stones Fuel Oils was built.
Managing director of Rix Petroleum,
Duncan Lambert commented; “As a fifth-
generation family firm with proud Yorkshire
roots, our success has been built on becoming
part of the communities we serve and
FTA welcomes
postponement
of CAZs
New depot manager Paul Clappison is pictured with
Ann-Marie Shaw outside the Rix Stones Malton depot.
providing the best customer service and
support we possibly can.
“This is what we aim to do in Malton;
become a valued member of the community
and ensure that our customers know they
can rely on us for all their fuel, lubricant and
heating needs.”
The company has also ordered two
new tankers to replace existing ones coming
towards the end of their working life. Once
again supplied by Tasca Tankers Ltd with
chassis by Scania and Alpeco metering
equipment, the tankers will be delivered later
in the year to meet a rising fuel demand from
rural households, farms and businesses in
Malton and surrounding areas.
Increased demand sees
re-introduction of familiar figure
A
surge in customer demand and
requests has recently seen a well-known
industry figure re-introduced to the
tanker rental market. Bruce Williams, the owner
of Williams Tanker Services for 21 years before
its purchase by TIP Rentals, has responded to
the increase in those seeking his services.
Never having lost his enthusiasm for
offering quality solutions within the industry
the enquiries have led Bruce to establish Road
Tank Rental Ltd, a subsidiary of his existing
business Tanker Consulting Services Ltd.
In his former role heading up WTS Bruce
developed a 100+ road tank rental fleet and
established the company as the leading sales
outlet in Europe for LAG Trailers (Belgium).
Offering extensive workshop facilities as well
as a highly rated refurbishment centre for road
tank and gas companies Bruce became widely
recognised and highly respected.
Explaining his return to the rental market
Bruce commented; ‘Whilst there is a significant
drop in current demand, I am also finding a lot
of people contacting me looking for assistance
in sourcing the right tank solutions for their
needs. The markets will recover of course, and
launching this rental service now means we will
be well placed to help when it does’.
T
he decision by the government to
postpone the introduction of Clean
Air Zones (CAZs) until 2021 has been
welcomed by the FTA, the trade body for the
logistics industry.
Natalie Chapman, head of urban policy
at the FTA, said; “As the business organisation
representing the logistics sector, FTA has been
urging government to delay the introduction of
CAZs urgently to allow businesses to focus their
efforts on keeping goods moving throughout
the Covid-19 outbreak, so we were pleased
to receive a letter from Environment, Food
and Rural Affairs minister Rebecca Pow to
confirm implementation of the schemes will be
postponed until at least January 2021.”
Supportive of policy
“While FTA and its members support fully the
government’s ambition to improve air quality
across the UK, to achieve compliance with the
scheme, businesses would have to undertake
significant work and planning.”
“Once the immediacy of the coronavirus
crisis comes to an end, FTA will continue
to work with Defra and cities including
Birmingham and Leeds, whose zones were
due to come into force this year, to ensure
the detail of the schemes take into account
the needs of businesses while delivering
improvements to air quality.”
A total of five cities across the UK were
originally mandated to introduce CAZs;
Birmingham, Leeds, Nottingham, Southampton
and Derby. This would have restricted the use
of older, more polluting vehicles including
HGVs, LGVs, PHVs, buses, coaches, taxis and
cars.
Gleaner name evolution is a nod to the future
H
aving diversified into many new areas,
the original name of Gleaner Oils no
longer reflected all the facets of the
company and it has now been simplified to the
new name of ‘Gleaner’.
Asked about the name change David
Todd, managing director, explained; “We
wanted to reflect all we offer as a business
4 Fuel Oil News | May 2020
and we didn’t feel the original name achieved
this. Another important consideration was that
particularly in the North East of Scotland, the
word ‘oil’ is strongly associated with Upstream
UK oil which, of course, is not us.
“One other thing it achieves is a nod
towards the carbon neutral future we are all
working towards.”
A Gleaner tanker travelling through Glenmore
Mull on a rare snowy day earlier this year proudly
displays the simplified company name.