COUNCIL workmen in Swindon will beat future petrol crises by turning to gas.

Britain's largest ever fleet of gas-fuelled vehicles has been bought by Swindon Borough Council.

Worth £2 million, the 79 vehicles range from vans to tippers and will help ensure essential council services are not crippled when petrol levels start to dwindle.

They will also save taxpayers around £35,000 in running costs and will help clean up Swindon's environment.

Council leader Sue Bates made history when she signed a contract for 68 of the vans with manufacturer LDV at the British International Motor Show.

The other 11 will be supplied by Vauxhall and all are due to be delivered within the next six weeks.

Coun Bates (Lab, Gorse Hill and Pinehurst) said: "This is terrific news for Swindon because it puts us on the national map for all the right reasons.

"The vehicles are more environmentally-friendly than existing ones and have lower running costs. We want cleaner air in Swindon and although this requires other people to do their part, the council is leading by example."

Thevans can run on liquified petroleum gas or petrol, and purpose-made fuel pumps will be built for use exclusively by the council.

Although the showroomvalue of the vans is £2 million, the borough has secured the vehicles for £1.28 million.

The council expects to receive £80,000 of this back from the Energy Saving Trust a Government initiative set up to encourage organisations to buy cleaner-fuelled vehicles.

Running costs will be lower because the cost of LPG is just over one third of the cost of diesel, saving the council around £500 a year per van. And car tax on LPG vehicles is 25 per cent less than for those run on diesel.

The vehicles have several environmental advantages over other vans including quieter engines and reduced levels of nitrogen dioxide. They only emit 10 per cent of the harmful particles released by diesel vans.

Council spokeswoman Sue Pycroft said: "We were due to replace 107 of our vehicles this year anyway because of normal wear and tear, and decided most of these should be dual-fuel ones.

"Ideally we would like to convert our entire fleet to LPG in the future but the technology for larger vehicles such as refuse collection lorries is at an experimental stage at the moment."