BP Gas Light/ MacGas Light

[HarryM1BYT]

I bought us into this system five or six years ago - 5Kg or 10Kg plastic see through propane bottles, much, much lighter than the steel bottles and you can see at a glance how much gas you have left. Besides which, I didn't like Calor's monopoly - I have 2x 10Kg.

I found an independent local to me gas supplier, who sold the 10Kg refill for £22-50, which worked fine for the first few years, but was a bit of a panic when away from home, because our only other source was Homebase. Homebase then, would not provide a refill unless you could prove you had paid them for the original bottle deposit and they charged £38 for a 10Kg refill, but would not offer a refill. You started again with £45 + the £35 bottle deposit - so my only sensible sources were the impossible to find independents, some of whom wanted to charge £45.

BP sold the system out to MacGas, which might have been a chance to make supplies easier to obtain, but..

My £22-50 local independent were forced by Calor to stop dealing in the BP bottles, then I found another 30 miles away charging £25, the owner of which lived near us and was willing to bring a full bottle home with him for us.

A nice system, made unusable by difficulties of sourcing and variable cost. A couple of years ago I was in south Wales, ringing round trying to find a source which didn't involve paying a new bottle deposit to Homebase. The nearest source I could find was a 300mile round trip away - luckily the gas lasted.

I complained frequently to BP, then to MacGas, Homebase and to the Monopolies Commission about the whole situation.

I was so stressed by the whole situation, that I had been trying to find a means to decant gas from one part empty 10Kg, into a second part empty - so as to at least allow me to swap an empty for a refill without wasting gas.

Whether my complaints worked, or Homebase at last saw sense I don't know, but....

Homebase will now provide a refill without need for a proof of purchase from them and they charge a much more sensible £28.32 for a 10Kg refill. There are 3x Homebase's within 10 miles of where we are planning on going in June. Hopefully, no more concerns about ensuring I have enough gas with me for the entire outing. I will be a taking 1x 1/4 full, 1x 1/3 full which might be enough, but now no panic if it is not.