I expect you're right Thompson.

Our neighbour sprayed his entire wooden garden fence with a product called Creocote (not Creosote, which is now banned in UK) It stank to high heaven, a sort of petrol-solvent-industrial stench, and it lasted for days. It gave me very bad vertigo, and I shudder every time I see the stacks of Creocote tins in the garden centre.
He hasn't used it since.