BBC Inside Out - Red Diesel

[Carloss Fandango]

Inside Out on BBC One tonight has an item about people illegally using red diesel in road vehicles.

A couple of chancers are filmed at a fuel station, filling up jerry cans with red diesel and loading them into the boot of a Fiat 500. They are then followed to a side street where they are seen filling up a black Mercedes from the jerry cans.
Reporter: What's with the red diesel?
Chancer: What's with what red diesel?
After failing to block the camera, the chancers have it away on their toes.

Another chancer is less bothered about being filmed. Caught red handed, he says with a chuckle:
It's still diesel, it's just got colouring in it!

Inside Out - 03 Feb 2020 7:30pm
BBC One West Midlands and Yorkshire regions
Also available on iPlayer

[sunbeam alpine]

Where's the harm in that?

It is just diesel with some colour added.

I didn't know that you could buy red at the pump these days, I need to look more carefully.

I do quite a few thousand miles on red diesel every year...

[Horsey McHorseface]

When they say only farmers can use it, does that also mean their road cars, or only tractors / other farm vehicles? I know one farmer who's always filling his BMW 5 series with it, for road miles.

[sunbeam alpine]

Horsey McHorseface said:

When they say only farmers can use it, does that also mean their road cars, or only tractors / other farm vehicles?

Only tractors/agricultural vehicles, and (I believe) some boats.

[Horsey McHorseface]

sunbeam alpine said:

Horsey McHorseface said:

When they say only farmers can use it, does that also mean their road cars, or only tractors / other farm vehicles?

Only tractors/agricultural vehicles, and (I believe) some boats.

Yep, he always seems a bit wary, of people seeing, when he's filling the BM, compared to his tractor.

[Europa1]

OP - what region are you in? Inside Out content varies depending on region.

[Pugmitch]

Punters using Red Diesel shock! Farmers using it in their own cars surprise!
Who’d have guessed it?
Pity Customs and Excise don’t have enough staff to do more testing. Penalties for selling and using are pitiful.
The real surprise is that there aren’t more people doing it!

[Sheepshanks]

Carloss Fandango said:

Another chancer is less bothered about being filmed. Caught red handed, he says with a chuckle:
It's still diesel, it's just got colouring in it!

I saw a clip on the lunch-time news where the garages website was promoting red as being better for cars!


Locally (rural Cheshire) we used to hear of HMRC dipping tanks and catching people - IIRC it's a £500 penalty first time caught - but I haven't heard of it for some time.

[texaxile]

They used to frequently pull the hauliers on the A14, along with transits and vans, but I never saw a regular diesel car getting pulled by VOSA, that was back in the late 90's / 00's.

Way back in the 80's I ran some red in an old golf for a few weeks, I was pretty poor back then and the offer of some "cherry" in exchange for a couple of old tarps I had laying around was a good deal.

Note: I don't condone dodging paying excise duty on fuel, nor do I condone defrauding Her Majesty's Govt.

[rigga]

We use red in the trains at work, used to regularly see people being pulled off the road into the car park, and the tanks dipped, mainly vans but the odd car too.
I don't have a diesel vehicle so no interest to me, plus a pretty stupid way to get fired.

[227bhp]

They take your vehicle from you if caught and you have to pay to get it back.
I've never used it, but did get stopped and dipped just the once. I also have a friend who works near a petrol station selling it, he's seen inspectors sat watching nearby to try and catch people.

[petop]

Its actually not that a good diesel, for the very reason its used for plant and machinery etc. It will also stain the inside of the tank et over long term use.

[LosingGrip]

Sheepshanks said:

I saw a clip on the lunch-time news where the garages website was promoting red as being better for cars!


Locally (rural Cheshire) we used to hear of HMRC dipping tanks and catching people - IIRC it's a £500 penalty first time caught - but I haven't heard of it for some time.

£250 fine for having it in the tank. £250 if driving at the time plus the tax of a full tank of fuel.

Dealt with a couple at work in the past.

[LaurasOtherHalf]

Living rurally you'll always have a few folk running on cherry, we had a tank on our site back in the day (god knows how it was never stolen but dad hid it between some porta-cabins!) but as the VOSA test centre was between home and site it never seemed like the smartest move!

Farm hands on a pittance and filling up their old rot-boxes is one thing but there's probably more doing it round our way than I'd know. Isn't VOSA dipping a bit like TV detector vans these days, something that just doesn't happen anymore?

Edited by LaurasOtherHalf on Monday 3rd February 21:43

[borcy]

I reckon out in the sticks you'd have to be very unlikely to be caught. I lived out in the countryside for 15 years never saw any hmrc or heard of anyone being stopped for it.
I did see the vosa inspector teams out . Not sure if they do it during those stops?

[petop]

IRA would smuggle red diesel on a industrial scale in Northern Ireland. The infamous "Slab" Murphy was a rich man because of it.

[tight fart]

Often see the fuel testing van stopping cars at Stansted Airport

[Francy555]

In Northern Ireland, the dippers - customs and excise officials - carry out mobile checks on a daily basis.

Mostly do roadside stops assisted by the PSNI, but have been known to go into livestock markets and dip every car/4x4 entering and leaving. They've also been known to target large workplaces and do every vehicle leaving the carpark at clocking out time.

Getting caught in a car, results in car impounded, £500 payment in cash, or debit card payment.

Getting caught in a commercial vehicle, results in a further inspection of all the vehicles in your fleet, plus if more than one vehicle caught on red.. The fine is scaled to the calculated percieved loss or revenue to HMRC!

[Rostfritt]

LaurasOtherHalf said:

Isn't VOSA dipping a bit like TV detector vans these days, something that just doesn't happen anymore?

Edited by LaurasOtherHalf on Monday 3rd February 21:43

TV detector vans never existed. Well they might have written 'TV Licencing' on the side of a van and put a big pointy antenna on the top, but there was nothing inside them.

[Halmyre]

petop said:

Its actually not that a good diesel, for the very reason its used for plant and machinery etc. It will also stain the inside of the tank et over long term use.

Apparently, even if you only ever used one tankful, it leaves a detectable trace. Don't know if that's just a scare story to dissuade you from using it.