A FUEL leak and potential fire risk is forcing a recall of nearly 20,000 Australian-built Toyotas.

FUEL prices are set to fall to their lowest levels in almost 18 months with the price of unleaded petrol expected to drop below $1.20 a litre in Sydney.

A MAN is in an induced coma with burns he suffered after splashing fuel inside a house and igniting it during a domestic dispute last night.

GAS bottles, fuel containers and a sledgehammer were found at the site of an arson attack at a historic Sydney hotel yesterday.

INDEPENDENT grocery store Banana Joe's Foodworks is offering fuel discounts of up to 22c a litre for petrol bought from any service station.

A PLAN to make the state's petrol stations sell more biodiesel fuel has been suspended because not enough is produced locally.

QANTAS' half-yearly profits could drop by as much as $277 million as strike action and rising fuel costs continue to plague the airline.

FUEL spilling from a diesel truck on the M4 motorway has closed two east bound lanes and caused an eight kilometre traffic queue.

A CHIP a day keeps the wheels on this country school bus moving along as the tiny town of Gunning are turning used cooking oil into biodiesel fuel.

INDEPENDENT Rob Oakeshott continues to claim truck drivers won't be slugged with a carbon tax on fuel.

MOTORISTS could be forced to pay for petrol before they fill up as record numbers of drive-through thieves target service stations across the state.

A TRUCK driver died after his petrol tanker, with 40,000 litres of fuel onboard, crashed and then burst into flames yesterday.

PETROL prices will soar ahead of Christmas, forcing households on average to spend $16 a month more on fuel than in September.

A UNION boss has linked a western Sydney construction company to a "mobile fuel bomb" that was rammed into a trade union headquarters at Lidcombe.

STRUGGLING independent service stations are being killed off by a petrol war between the major retailers that has forced outlets to sell fuel below cost for three weeks.

SYDNEY is the cheapest Australian city to buy petrol, with a price war between major retailers forcing the cost at the bowser down 4.2c a litre in the past week.

A MOTHER forced her daughter, 13, into a sexual act with a truck driver - who was twice the girl's age - in exchange for diesel fuel, the Downing Centre court was told.

HOLLYWOOD star Bo Derek was involved in mid-air emergency above Sydney today when an engine on her charter jet failed, forcing the crew to dump fuel as passengers braced for a crash-landing.

FIRE crews are investigating a fuel leak after they were forced to remove people from a plane which unexpectedly crash landed at Bankstown Airport today.

SOARING electricity prices will force working families into "fuel poverty'' where they simply can't afford to pay for power as $200 is added to the average annual bill.