The Petroleum Licensing Authority
The Petroleum Licensing Authority (PLA) for Cheshire is the
Consumer Protection and Investigations Service of the Council. It
is responsible for ensuring the licensing and the safe storage of
petrol. It advises and enforces under relevant petroleum and health
and safety legislation.
The remit generally lies with the licensing of petrol filling
stations and some non-retail sites that store petrol for use in
business vehicles etc i.e. where there is dispensing of petrol via
electronic or mechanical means into the fuel tank of an internal
combustion engine.
When a licence is issued to a petrol filling station or other
storage facility, the licensee will have to abide by a small number
of conditions that are attached to the licence, in order to ensure
that the petrol is stored as safely as possible.
Safe storage of petrol should be further enhanced by the
requirement for the licensee or site operator to conduct an in
depth risk assessment under the Dangerous Substances and Explosive
Atmospheres Regulations 2002 (DSEAR). Such a risk assessment should
look to the potential risks and hazards from the storage of petrol
and highlight the control measures that are in place or need to be
put into place to ensure and maintain safety.
Inspections of forecourts, petrol storage and dispensing facilities
and other associated equipment are undertaken by the PLA, which
will include inspection of site procedures and general maintenance.
Such inspections take place in order to ensure that petrol is being
stored to the highest of safety standards, though ultimately under
DSEAR this responsibility lies with the site operator.
Consumer Protection and Investigations also has responsibility to
enforce legislation and advise with regard private storage of
petrol.
Along with the above, the PLA ensures that ex-petrol tanks are
decommissioned or dealt with appropriately in order to prevent
danger in line with the requirements of the Public Health Act
1961.
The Petroleum Licensing Authority is always willing to advise the
public or receive information where they may have concerns, for
example, with regard to unsafe or illegal storage or dispensing of
petrol, the sale of petrol to under 16’s, or the dispensing of
petrol into unsuitable containers such as plastic bottles etc.
