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MP condemns Esso for switching fuel to road
Page 6
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• Esso has been branded as irresponsible by an MP who says its decision to switch Northern fuel movements from rail to road will add 2,000 vehicle movements a year to a dangerous stretch of road. Carlisle MP Eric Martlew is writing to Esso's chief executive and the Department of Transport demanding that Esso reconsider its decision to end rail movements from Scotland to Carlisle.
Martlew suggests that Esso shares a rail siding with BP, which has one close to the town. He claims that Esso's rail closure will lead to 40 extra vehicle movements a week on the A69, the scene of 72 deaths in road accidents over 10 years.
"Esso is being irresponsible and environmentally unfriendly," says Martlew.
But Esso refutes the MP's al legations. It says it has switched to road because of the high cost of maintaining rail operations, and points out that it will have no more than six tankers a day on the A69, out of 19,000 vehicles that use the road.
"Carlisle will benefit because the number of tanker journeys within the city will fall by two thirds, while users of the A69 will notice no difference," says Esso regional plant manager Ken Duggan.