Biofuel tested in Northumberland buses

The 75 buses in the innovative trial will run from Arriva's Blyth Garage in Northumberland and carry around 130,000 passengers every week. Minimal engineering changes will be required to the fleet as part of the scheme.

The company is aiming to reduce total carbon emissions by around 14 per cent by using Fatty Acid Methyl Ester (FAME) as a 20 per cent blend. The FAME will predominantly be a mixture of sustainable soya products, along with used cooking oil and tallow.

Mark Bowd, Arriva's director of technical services, said: "We know that public transport has a massive role to play in the fight against global warming. We will be asking the Government to review the tax arrangements to help the market make this fuel available at a more economic price than is currently possible"

Arriva is already trialling the world's first hybrid double-decker and piloting new technology which analyses driving behaviour to help substantially reduce exhaust emissions.

The B20 biodiesel has been produced by Teesside-based Petroplus. Iain Grime, the company's business development manager, said: "This is the first time we have supplied B20 to a bus operator and we are confident that this will prove to be a very successful partnership."