A senior official apologised last night for not disclosing earlier the breakdowns of Sinopec-fuelled taxis and minibuses, which began in September. The apology came as the government puzzled over why its vehicles, which also use Sinopec LPG, had not had the same trouble.
The acting director of electrical and mechanical services, Frank Chan Fan, said yesterday the 220 government vehicles that run on Sinopec liquefied petroleum gas had not had problems with engines stalling. 'So we are puzzled why so many taxis have been breaking down,' Chan said on a radio programme.
By 4pm yesterday, a hotline set up on Monday as part of the investigation into the problem had received 62 complaints about engines stalling.
Chan, who said he could not say whether the problem lay with Sinopec's LPG or the vehicles themselves before the investigation finished in two to three months, advised taxi and minibus drivers to clean their vehicles' vaporisers if the engines showed signs of stalling or instability.
Because taxis and minibuses ran up more mileage than government vehicles, they required more frequent cleaning, he said. 'If maintenance is not done accordingly, the chance of breakdowns or engines stalling will increase.'
Such vehicles should have their vaporisers cleaned every 40,000km, which would be about every 40 days for many taxis and minibuses.
But a taxi driver named Chan called the programme to say his taxi had stalled suddenly more than 30 times since being cleaned nine days ago.