The soaring price of fuel led Andy Bawden to seek alternative means of getting from A to B. The self-employed building and property maintenance worker, 48, has just bought a £2,000 processor from Goat Industries to make biodiesel from vegetable oil.

It will mainly be used to run wife Dorothy’s car. The NHS administrator, also 48, drives to work from their home just outside Inverness in the Scottish Highlands.

With savings over conventional fuel of more than 90% per litre, Bawden, pictured above with his wife and two daughters, Ellie-Rose, 22, and Teya, 19, hopes to recoup the initial outlay quickly.

Raw-material costs will also be kept to a minimum – thanks to a friendly chippy.

“We have friends who have a restaurant in Dingwall and they get through quite a bit of chip fat in the summertime,” said Bawden.

How much biodiesel the family will be able to make will depend on how harsh the notoriously cold Scottish winters are – biodiesel can clog your engine if the temperature outside drops below 13C.