limit to the amount of petrol you can carry in the boot ?.
Discussion
not a very useful topic header I know, but I ran out of characters.
Off to Blackpool at the weekend, from Surrey, and the fuel gauge sender on my car has packed up.
Therefore my plan is to frequently brim the car with petrol and keep a close eye on the amount of miles I've covered. But just in case I run out I have bought a 20l jerry can for the boot. My FIL thought that there was a law limiting the amount of petrol you can carry in the boot in a jerry can. I've searched the Highway Code but can't find anything.
Anybody aware of such a law ?.
Off to Blackpool at the weekend, from Surrey, and the fuel gauge sender on my car has packed up.
Therefore my plan is to frequently brim the car with petrol and keep a close eye on the amount of miles I've covered. But just in case I run out I have bought a 20l jerry can for the boot. My FIL thought that there was a law limiting the amount of petrol you can carry in the boot in a jerry can. I've searched the Highway Code but can't find anything.
Anybody aware of such a law ?.
There is no law regarding transport of petrol, but there is for storage. You need a licence for more than 20 litres. You can transport as much of it as you like in the boot, in whatever container you fancy.
The storage law is anachronistic and was drafted in the 20's before the nazis invented 20 litre jerry cans. Basically, if you were to store 20 litres it can only be in metal cans of 10 litres or less. So long as the cans are made of some form of metal, it doesnt matter what form they take. It doesn't even matter if its a rusty old paint tin with the lid missing. Thats perfectly legal.
Alternatively you can store in plastic, no more than 10 litres, and in no more than 5 litres per container.
What is totally illegal is to use a NATO spec 20 litre jerry can, as proven during world war 2, and to this day carried by army, navy, airforce and marines world-wide in war torn disaster areas. This is not good enough for your shed. A couple of old flimsy tins is the only legal way according to the law.
PS. I've been told its illegal to fill 20 litre jerry cans at petrol stations too. Thats utterly wrong. No law on transportation of the stuff, just storage.
The storage law is anachronistic and was drafted in the 20's before the nazis invented 20 litre jerry cans. Basically, if you were to store 20 litres it can only be in metal cans of 10 litres or less. So long as the cans are made of some form of metal, it doesnt matter what form they take. It doesn't even matter if its a rusty old paint tin with the lid missing. Thats perfectly legal.
Alternatively you can store in plastic, no more than 10 litres, and in no more than 5 litres per container.
What is totally illegal is to use a NATO spec 20 litre jerry can, as proven during world war 2, and to this day carried by army, navy, airforce and marines world-wide in war torn disaster areas. This is not good enough for your shed. A couple of old flimsy tins is the only legal way according to the law.
PS. I've been told its illegal to fill 20 litre jerry cans at petrol stations too. Thats utterly wrong. No law on transportation of the stuff, just storage.
Edited by gadzookz on Monday 23 June 16:42
gadzookz said:
PS. I've been told its illegal to fill 20 litre jerry cans at petrol stations too. Thats utterly wrong.
It's not 'utterly' wrong, but, in many cases, you are not committing the offence in filling multiple cans, the vendor is. Many filling station site licences only allow:* A maximum of two 5 litre plastic containers, or
* A maximum of two 10 litre metal containers, or
* One 23 litre Metal ('Jerry') Can
Citation
gadzookz said:
No law on transportation of the stuff, just storage.
EFA
Edited by J111 on Tuesday 24th June 01:23
gadzookz said:
There is no law regarding transport of petrol, but there is for storage. You need a licence for more than 20 litres. You can transport as much of it as you like in the boot, in whatever container you fancy.
The storage law is anachronistic and was drafted in the 20's before the nazis invented 20 litre jerry cans. Basically, if you were to store 20 litres it can only be in metal cans of 10 litres or less. So long as the cans are made of some form of metal, it doesnt matter what form they take. It doesn't even matter if its a rusty old paint tin with the lid missing. Thats perfectly legal.
Alternatively you can store in plastic, no more than 10 litres, and in no more than 5 litres per container.
What is totally illegal is to use a NATO spec 20 litre jerry can, as proven during world war 2, and to this day carried by army, navy, airforce and marines world-wide in war torn disaster areas. This is not good enough for your shed. A couple of old flimsy tins is the only legal way according to the law.
PS. I've been told its illegal to fill 20 litre jerry cans at petrol stations too. Thats utterly wrong. No law on transportation of the stuff, just storage.
I too have been told, by filling station attendants, that it is illegal to fill more than 10l into a can.The storage law is anachronistic and was drafted in the 20's before the nazis invented 20 litre jerry cans. Basically, if you were to store 20 litres it can only be in metal cans of 10 litres or less. So long as the cans are made of some form of metal, it doesnt matter what form they take. It doesn't even matter if its a rusty old paint tin with the lid missing. Thats perfectly legal.
Alternatively you can store in plastic, no more than 10 litres, and in no more than 5 litres per container.
What is totally illegal is to use a NATO spec 20 litre jerry can, as proven during world war 2, and to this day carried by army, navy, airforce and marines world-wide in war torn disaster areas. This is not good enough for your shed. A couple of old flimsy tins is the only legal way according to the law.
PS. I've been told its illegal to fill 20 litre jerry cans at petrol stations too. Thats utterly wrong. No law on transportation of the stuff, just storage.
Edited by gadzookz on Monday 23 June 16:42
Now this was useless to me when I needed to fill 4 x 20l to go racing for the weekend, so I used to put them into the boot of my 320, drive into the station with the boot obscured from view from the cashdesk and cameras, and fill them all up. Never had a problem that way.
I wonder how the hundreds of guys who go racing manage? Most turn up with fuel in 20l cans and don't buy it on circuit at £1.50 or so per litre.
DSM2 said:
gadzookz said:
There is no law regarding transport of petrol, but there is for storage. You need a licence for more than 20 litres. You can transport as much of it as you like in the boot, in whatever container you fancy.
The storage law is anachronistic and was drafted in the 20's before the nazis invented 20 litre jerry cans. Basically, if you were to store 20 litres it can only be in metal cans of 10 litres or less. So long as the cans are made of some form of metal, it doesnt matter what form they take. It doesn't even matter if its a rusty old paint tin with the lid missing. Thats perfectly legal.
Alternatively you can store in plastic, no more than 10 litres, and in no more than 5 litres per container.
What is totally illegal is to use a NATO spec 20 litre jerry can, as proven during world war 2, and to this day carried by army, navy, airforce and marines world-wide in war torn disaster areas. This is not good enough for your shed. A couple of old flimsy tins is the only legal way according to the law.
PS. I've been told its illegal to fill 20 litre jerry cans at petrol stations too. Thats utterly wrong. No law on transportation of the stuff, just storage.
I too have been told, by filling station attendants, that it is illegal to fill more than 10l into a can.The storage law is anachronistic and was drafted in the 20's before the nazis invented 20 litre jerry cans. Basically, if you were to store 20 litres it can only be in metal cans of 10 litres or less. So long as the cans are made of some form of metal, it doesnt matter what form they take. It doesn't even matter if its a rusty old paint tin with the lid missing. Thats perfectly legal.
Alternatively you can store in plastic, no more than 10 litres, and in no more than 5 litres per container.
What is totally illegal is to use a NATO spec 20 litre jerry can, as proven during world war 2, and to this day carried by army, navy, airforce and marines world-wide in war torn disaster areas. This is not good enough for your shed. A couple of old flimsy tins is the only legal way according to the law.
PS. I've been told its illegal to fill 20 litre jerry cans at petrol stations too. Thats utterly wrong. No law on transportation of the stuff, just storage.
Edited by gadzookz on Monday 23 June 16:42
Now this was useless to me when I needed to fill 4 x 20l to go racing for the weekend, so I used to put them into the boot of my 320, drive into the station with the boot obscured from view from the cashdesk and cameras, and fill them all up. Never had a problem that way.
I wonder how the hundreds of guys who go racing manage? Most turn up with fuel in 20l cans and don't buy it on circuit at £1.50 or so per litre.
Fill 10l into can 2.
pour contents of can 2 in to can 1.
keep repeating for however many cans you have
Is it per transaction?
Could you have a 50L can, put 10L in. Pay for it. "leave" forecourt, return and put 10L in etc. and repeat....
sniff petrol said:
gadzookz said:
PS. I've been told its illegal to fill 20 litre jerry cans at petrol stations too. Thats utterly wrong. No law on transportation of the stuff, just storage.
I've never had trouble filling 20l jerry cans for trackdays. 
J111 said:
gadzookz said:
PS. I've been told its illegal to fill 20 litre jerry cans at petrol stations too. Thats utterly wrong.
It's not 'utterly' wrong, but you are not committing the offence in filling multiple cans, the vendor is. Filling station site licences allow:* A maximum of two 5 litre plastic containers, or
* A maximum of two 10 litre metal containers, or
* One 23 litre Metal ('Jerry') Can
Citation
gadzookz said:
No law on transportation of the stuff, just storage.
did the job though 
Edited by Ben Magoo on Monday 23 June 22:57
The last time I actually commited the crime of storing proper MOD Jerry cans was when my old Fiesta was stolen and written off more or less as soon as it was nicked. I had only just reconditioned the engine and had honed the 1.1 bores and fit new piston rings. It ran great - it was filled to the brim with the gold we now know as regular 95 ron.
The police gave the location of the car, I went and found it to be utterly trashed, yet only a pint of the golden nectar had been used, if at all.
I surely used my 2 x 20l ex army Jerrys to drain the tank into. Simply stick a hose on the end of the fuel injector inlet, and stick 12 volts on the fuel pump under the rear seat. It pumped well into the extremely well constructed jerry cans.
This is all well and good - and £50 of petrol that would not have been paid out by the insurance co. was returned to me. But I found it ridiculous that I had to empty 2x 20 litre MOD Jerry Cans into a couple of old paint tins in my old shed and my brothers shed 2 miles away... Of course that is what I did your honour.... wouldn't dream of breaking the 1929 law after all...
The police gave the location of the car, I went and found it to be utterly trashed, yet only a pint of the golden nectar had been used, if at all.
I surely used my 2 x 20l ex army Jerrys to drain the tank into. Simply stick a hose on the end of the fuel injector inlet, and stick 12 volts on the fuel pump under the rear seat. It pumped well into the extremely well constructed jerry cans.
This is all well and good - and £50 of petrol that would not have been paid out by the insurance co. was returned to me. But I found it ridiculous that I had to empty 2x 20 litre MOD Jerry Cans into a couple of old paint tins in my old shed and my brothers shed 2 miles away... Of course that is what I did your honour.... wouldn't dream of breaking the 1929 law after all...
J111 said:
sniff petrol said:
gadzookz said:
PS. I've been told its illegal to fill 20 litre jerry cans at petrol stations too. Thats utterly wrong. No law on transportation of the stuff, just storage.
I've never had trouble filling 20l jerry cans for trackdays. sniff petrol said:
J111 said:
sniff petrol said:
gadzookz said:
PS. I've been told its illegal to fill 20 litre jerry cans at petrol stations too. Thats utterly wrong. No law on transportation of the stuff, just storage.
I've never had trouble filling 20l jerry cans for trackdays. Every filling station has to be licensed by its local authority. That local authority's licensing officer will set the requirements according to law, precedent, national guidelines, and personal whim. However, under the HSE's Lead Authority Partnership Scheme, organisations with many branches can, in matters of Health and Safety, join with a partner (I believe BP's is the London Fire Brigade) to provide country-wide guidelines and agreements on HS practices to which both the organisation and the local authorities covering its branches refer.
So, while there's no detailed law on this issue per se, to avoid the offence of breaching its individual licence each filling station has to conform to the terms agreed between BP and the LFR.
As far as I am aware, all the major petrol retailers have entered into agreements, Texaco and Tesco are also partnered with the LFR, but there may be small retailers whose licensing officer doesn't insist on any restriction. In my area, the officer requires the same restrictions for individual retailers, so, while possibly not universal, it would seem they are common practise.
I've edited my earlier post for accuracy.
This is the second petrol station thread I've been in. Before you garner the impression that I'm even duller than I actually am, my land has a fuel storage area on it that was, thanks to the previous owner being so pig-headed that the council threw the book at him, despite consisting of a couple of modest tanks, technically a filling station, so, having discovered this after we started building our house (yay solicitor !
) I had to dig us out of the ensuing regulatory messEdited by J111 on Tuesday 24th June 01:25
I used to get shouted at by the bloke in the local petrol station nearly every time I went karting. He comes over his little tannoy "only one plastic can per car please" as I'm filling about 3. Always just ignored him to be honest and said oh sorry mate when I went to pay, he doesn't even bother telling me now! If your worried I'd just fill em up like stood behind your car or something where the attendent can't see exactly what your doing.
Never had a problem filling cans for a track day, usually three or four 20 litre ex-mod jobs. Will check on the insurance thing though.
Mind you if I was driving an American car I might think twice about it, as we all know from the movies they explode at the slightest impact.
Mind you if I was driving an American car I might think twice about it, as we all know from the movies they explode at the slightest impact.
Edited by Toltec on Tuesday 24th June 11:38
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