RED BEARD Posted December 30, 2013 Report Share Posted December 30, 2013 a tiny trace is alright as long as you've got a good excuse,for example you've been using the vehicle for agricultural use off the highway (therefor not needing agri registration),before you put the vehicle back for road use.obviously they expect you to have drianed the tank of red before you did this! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RED BEARD Posted December 30, 2013 Report Share Posted December 30, 2013 I own a garage and we have done services in the last 12-18 months on more than a dozen cars ALL of which were running on red diesel i.e. fuel filters full of red diesel and they are not all old bangers either some worth more than 20k its not my problem so i just keep stum, quite a few of our polish friends run on red for sure theres a good sized machinery auction i go to where the ministery men used to wait outside in the layby,they'd wave all the 4x4's and lorries in to be dipped,but they let every car pass.i've know folk there with brand new merc's etc that ran on red all the time and never got dipped.that was a few years ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snarepeg Posted December 30, 2013 Report Share Posted December 30, 2013 I got pulled in for testing in my old siii LandRovers running on cooking oil etc, no problem on that but asked if they caught many on red. He pointed to a brand new range rover that they had confiscated full of red diesel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark@mbb Posted December 30, 2013 Report Share Posted December 30, 2013 Sonicdmb we have just had the same problem, we had two large cherry pickers on industrial estate a private site customs, appeared and fine ud a £1,000, for running these vehicles on red we argued that they were on a private site and had not been on the road ,for 6 months the security guards confirmed this but to no avail we were fined because they were taxed and could go on the road at any time Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shawn9914 Posted December 30, 2013 Report Share Posted December 30, 2013 theres a good sized machinery auction i go to where the ministery men used to wait outside in the layby,they'd wave all the 4x4's and lorries in to be dipped,but they let every car pass.i've know folk there with brand new merc's etc that ran on red all the time and never got dipped.that was a few years ago. measham by any chance Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark@mbb Posted December 30, 2013 Report Share Posted December 30, 2013 Chelford market has the same every time there is a machinery sale HMRC are there like rats with nothing else better to do Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RED BEARD Posted December 30, 2013 Report Share Posted December 30, 2013 measham by any chance no, darley moor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike-b Posted December 30, 2013 Report Share Posted December 30, 2013 i have heard that if you call vosa and inform them you have mis fueled by accident on the farm, say you have drained all you can get out but there is still some in there and you have filled up with white (say if theres a white and red pump near each other) they give you a bit of grace with the next few tanks of fuel as you have informed them before you set a tyre on the road! this wont work more than once or twice a year but if you are planning on a long journey where the chance of getting pulled over is increased its worth a shout, this may be a load of bull im not sure just a rumor! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark@mbb Posted December 30, 2013 Report Share Posted December 30, 2013 It would be a £500 headache if they tugged you after you reported it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
39TDS Posted December 30, 2013 Report Share Posted December 30, 2013 My mate got pulled and dipped for red diesel once. To the inspectors surprise he passed. My mate wasn't at all surprised, his truck was a petrol. He tried to tell them but they were having non of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EMcC Posted December 30, 2013 Report Share Posted December 30, 2013 1 Litre of 2T oil to 20 litres of heating oil is as good as it gets with no colouring to give the game away - as far as I know from being told !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sonicdmb Posted December 30, 2013 Report Share Posted December 30, 2013 1 Litre of 2T oil to 20 litres of heating oil is as good as it gets with no colouring to give the game away - as far as I know from being told !! nope heating oil is a different specific gravity they can test for that it's not as obvious though. I should of said unless you reclassify a road going vehicle you can't run on red, if it's sorn you may just be warned but as my info came straight from the horses mouth so to speak I take it they could of done us for it. Had they wanted to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fruitloop Posted December 31, 2013 Report Share Posted December 31, 2013 my work vehicle runs on red full time on the road !!!! and yes been dipped and told to carry on. the young plod that pulled me in was not happy when his superior flagged me off . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark L Posted December 31, 2013 Report Share Posted December 31, 2013 Replace the filter and put a full tank of white in it should be fine It's a good idea to replace the filter anyway If you have been putting the red in through cans or even a lot of farm red tanks are not that clean you could have fuel problems in the future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neillfrbs Posted December 31, 2013 Report Share Posted December 31, 2013 my work vehicle runs on red full time on the road !!!! and yes been dipped and told to carry on. the young plod that pulled me in was not happy when his superior flagged me off . crane yes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kes Posted December 31, 2013 Report Share Posted December 31, 2013 On a related thread David Basc pointed to the recent change in red diesel regs - it would suggest that even running a vintage tractor a couple of miles on the road to carry wheat for your local shoot is illegal - check the HMRC website. Conveniently it has the consequences for those who get caught. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fruitloop Posted December 31, 2013 Report Share Posted December 31, 2013 crane yes yes lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barney 66 Posted December 31, 2013 Report Share Posted December 31, 2013 when I bought my Defender 90 I had a few jobs before I put it on the road one was to service it, when I changed the filter it was full of red diesel so I also drained the tank, at the time we were running HMRC exhibition trailer so I asked the chap delivering it to ask about the situation and was told, drain the tank and change the filters and that is all that can be expected, so near as damn it from the horses mouth and that was what I did, then kept receipts for diesel from when I bought it just in case there was any argument Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
islandgun Posted December 31, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 31, 2013 Thanks for all the excellent replies (PW come up with goods again) So its alright to use the red if your reg as an agric vehicle and you only go from one part of your holding to another, Red will disperse with a couple of filter changes if by a weird mischance you managed to splash some into your tank. Another question Years ago I was an agric contractor and did hundreds of miles per year in Ford 5000's, is this now illegal? Hope you all have good year Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alycidon Posted December 31, 2013 Report Share Posted December 31, 2013 Its not the colouring of the dye you should be worried about its the analysed partcles that the particle detector icks up,Our company vehicles are regularly stopped by VOSA they can tank test and take a sample or they can place a particle analyzer up the exhaust pipe to detect misuse of fuel. step1 remove old filter contaminated with the dye step2 Use garage or forecourt bought fuel step3 If caught only once you will be fined,if caught again the vehicle is impounded and you will get a bigger fine 3rd time you dont want to know... I have run diesel vans ( Escort/ Combo type vans) for almost 30 years, 9 at one time. None have EVER been stopped or dipped for red diesel. I was pulled off the M6 myself with land rover and trailer, they were more concerned with the trailer weight and my tacho ( or lack of at the time !!), even then the land rover was not dipped. A Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark L Posted January 1, 2014 Report Share Posted January 1, 2014 I have run diesel vans ( Escort/ Combo type vans) for almost 30 years, 9 at one time. None have EVER been stopped or dipped for red diesel. I was pulled off the M6 myself with land rover and trailer, they were more concerned with the trailer weight and my tacho ( or lack of at the time !!), even then the land rover was not dipped. A I think it's your luck I also have driven vans, off road vehicles etc on the road for years and never been checked . But when my wife had not long passed her driving test about 4 years ago she got stopped in the family car with the kids in it and they dipped and checked the tank !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keg Posted January 3, 2014 Report Share Posted January 3, 2014 When I worked with horses back in the 80s, we got dipped at every show. They used to dip the water tank as well and it tasted foul permanently after that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dan-250 Posted January 4, 2014 Report Share Posted January 4, 2014 Twin tank the system, they never know the second is there. Thats how my veg oil system works, been dipped once when my car was really muddy but was totally in the wrong tank, never told them though. When I run out of veg the odd few barrels of red have gone through, seperate filters tanks and fuel pipe apart from where the switch over valve is. Never been asked what it was under the bonnet either. My car is only worth a few hundred quid so id quite happily let them take it if the worst came, I do have proper diesel receipts as when on veg the car has to be warm and then flicked over.use around £15 of white a week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark@mbb Posted January 4, 2014 Report Share Posted January 4, 2014 We used to run our transit cherry pickers on red and they changed the law now so you cannot runs a van type cherry picker on red diesel but you can run a pickup type cherry picker on red Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul223 Posted January 6, 2014 Report Share Posted January 6, 2014 (edited) 'Red' or gas oil and Central heating oil is chemically marked and this marker is tested for, the red dye is only added for your convenience to let you know it's 'red', no amount of fullers earth, loafs of bread, blue dye or special tablets are going to remove the marker Run it low top up with white and keep your receipts and mileage for a few months Edited January 6, 2014 by Paul223 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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