IT is time that the smokescreen created by Brian Wilson and the Executive over alternatives to using existing, highly taxed, road fuel was blown away. If the figures quoted in the media for conversion of the average vehicle to LPG are correct, only those who can afford to pay the existing 80% fuel tax - an irony in oil-rich Scotland - can afford the work. Those who own a car under a year old will receive assistance of 75% towards the #1400 cost of conversion, while those with older and thirstier vehicles, who can't afford the current extortionate fuel tax imposed by Westminster, will receive no help. A win-win situation for the well-off, again, in New Labour's Scotland.

The working poor, pensioners (yes this is about social exclusion too), the sick (there is often no public transport at hospital visiting times), the self-employed (who work long, irregular hours), and those on moderate incomes drive cars that are, on average, between five and 10 years old. Many vehicles, valued at under #2000, are struggling to meet MoT pass standards and have a life expectancy of no more than two or three years.

How are these owners expected to raise the #1400 required for a conversion? What happens when the car is scrapped or sold? Will the LPG conversion kit, if you have been able to borrow the money at 6% over base rate (at nearly 13% the most expensive in Europe), fit any affordable vehicle or will you be involved in more expense? Many older vehicles, which are heavier on fuel than the latest models, are also maintained on a do-it-yourself basis; safety concerns may, or worse still not, inhibit this practice. Another double whammy for the less well off.

Unless a network of LPG stations, conversion facilities, and qualified maintenance engineers is opened up, which are at least as accessible as existing fuel outlets and garages, no-one is going to risk the investment. In view of the current rate of garage closures this seems unlikely.

Would it not be refreshing for the Government to admit that they have created the problem and that the solution is in their hands? Was there not a socialist principle which postulated that a tax should be levied on the basis of the ability to pay, or did that only apply to the Tory-imposed ''Poll Tax''? Was not diesel a cheaper fuel before it became popular? But then perhaps my memory fails me or it has been spun out of my mind beyond reliable recall?

Rod Stewart Liddon,

Glenhinnisdal, Snizort, Isle of Skye.

August 14.