Petrol tanks must be metal
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• Mr John Peyton last Friday laid regulations which will require all petrol tanks used for fuel to propel the vehicle to be made of metal. The regulations, which will come into force on July 28 1972, apply to vehicles first used on or after July 1 1973, and not manufactured before February 1 1972. They are the Motor Vehicles (construction and use) (amendment) (no 3) regulations 1972, price 3p.
Regulations already in force, administered by the Home Office, require petrol tanks to be made of metal, but these, says the DoE, have raised difficulties of interpretation so far as road vehicles are concerned. Accordingly responsibility for motor vehicle fuel tanks is being transferred from the Home Office to the Department of the Environment; and the requirement for them to be made of metal is being introduced into the Construction and Use Regulations in order to remove this uncertainty. It will also curb the growing use of non-metallic fuel tanks, which have proved a hazard in a number of cases, says the DoE.
From July 28 1972, petrol tanks on vehicles must be reasonably secure against damage, and leakage of liquid or vapour prevented.