Petrol Cans To Have Safety Spouts As Standard
Change in UK regulations will prevent hundreds of burns, save money and stop pollution, say Gloucestershire inventors of non-spill spout.
The Health and Safety Executive evaluated the safety benefits of a simple addition to the standard plastic petrol can spout and as a result they have included non-spill spouts in new regulations.
New Petrol Container Storage Regulations came into force in October 2014 stating that, to be fully compliant, petrol containers will be fitted with anti-spill safety spouts which prevent overfilling and the ignition of petrol vapour inside both spout and container. Manufacturers and retailers have over a year in which to sell existing stock and comply.
The non-spill spout was invented by Gloucestershire-based brothers Richard and Jim George, perhaps best known for their Postsaver fencing product, for which they turned down offers from all four millionaires on the BBC TV programme, Dragons Den, and which is now enjoying growing sales in over 30 countries worldwide.
Commenting on their Fill and Stop anti-spill petrol spout insert, Richard George said: “It’s great to see an innovative UK product that will prevent serious burns and wasteful, expensive pollution being widely adopted.”
The UK petrol can market is dominated by the sale every year of around three million 5 litre plastic containers, 80% of which are sold from garage forecourts. Initial reactions from forecourt operators and retailers suggests that most will switch as soon as fully compliant options are available, rather than risk being left with unsaleable stock.
Richard and Jim George’s patented Fill & Stop solution is already widely available in petrol cans sold in Scandinavia, Italy and Australia, with over 500,000 units already in use.
