16 November 2007: Diesel for 11p a litre

Soaring oil prices have led Thailand's police to seek cheaper and more environmentally friendly fuel, and they think they have found a solution: used cooking oil.

They now make biodiesel from old cooking oil donated by hotels, fast food shops and even shrines, using a locally-made machine that can produce up to 450 litres of biodiesel a day. The resulting fuel costs just 7.0 baht (that's about 11p) per litre. As well as being cheap, the biodiesel is much more environmentally friendly than a fossil fuel.

A spokesman said homemade biodiesel now accounted for 50 percent of the fuel used at the city centre police station.

SaintFM wants to know when that machine will be available here.