Carrying Petrol without ADR?

ASK THE EXPERTS SAFETY, LAW AND WORKING TIME DIRECTIVE FORUM (INTE
1

I was wondering how much petrol you could carry without coming under ADR regs - I have been searching various sites but am not really getting anywhere.

Our company carries concrete products & none of its lorries are ADR equipped. One of our drivers was asked to collect some petrol for use in some machines in our works in 6 x 20litre metal jerrycans from local petrol station - previously this had been done in someones car ! but he was now objecting.

Is this ok or not as next time they might ask me.

Thanks
Rog

2

HarryMango:
I was wondering how much petrol you could carry without coming under ADR regs - I have been searching various sites but am not really getting anywhere.

Our company carries concrete products & none of its lorries are ADR equipped. One of our drivers was asked to collect some petrol for use in some machines in our works in 6 x 20litre metal jerrycans from local petrol station - previously this had been done in someones car ! but he was now objecting.

Is this ok or not as next time they might ask me.

Thanks
Rog

Hi Rog, Your search is now over. :smiley:

You can carry up to 60ltrs of petrol carried in jerricans (per vehicle) and be completely exempt from everything written in ADR.

If you wish to carry the 6 x 20ltr jerricans all together on the same vehicle, then all you need is 1 x 2kg ADR compliant dry powder fire-extinguisher.
To be ADR compliant, the fire-extinguisher must:

  1. be of an approved type (kite mark or CE mark;)
  2. be fitted with a seal and pin;
  3. be in date and have a label or sticker that shows the next due date of inspection;
  4. be readily accessible, secured and protected from the effects of the weather.

NB: A gauge isn’t compulsory, but if a gauge is fitted to the fire-extinguisher, the needle must be pointing to the green sector.

Fire-extinguisher seal and pin:

Readily accessible, but secured:

If you comply with the fire-extinguisher requirements above, you can then carry up to 333ltrs of petrol on a vehicle without the rest of ADR applying, such as needing an ADR licence, fitting orange plates to your vehicle or needing any special documentation.

I’m now fresh out of exemptions (for your job, :wink: ) so if you wish to carry more than 333ltrs of petrol on a vehicle, then you’ll need an ADR licence, and all other applicable Regs will also then apply to the job. :grimacing:

Aren’t you glad you found us :question:

3

Isn’t there a maximum allowance of 1000 litres of whatever it is you are carrying? Fuel gas etc before ADR regs kick in?

4

mikeyb:
Isn’t there a maximum allowance of 1000 litres of whatever it is you are carrying? Fuel gas etc before ADR regs kick in?

Hi mikeyb, wherever you got that info from, it’s not correct.

The ‘freebie’ limit before ADR kicks in depends on the substance/article being carried.

Some substances are more dangerous than petrol, so they’d have a limit that is much smaller than the one for petrol.
Some substances are less dangerous, so they have a more generous limit. There are 5 limits altogether, which correspond to the Transport Category allocated to the goods.

You’re correct that there is a limit of 1,000ltrs/kg, that would apply to Diesel fuel for instance, because it’s far less dangerous than petrol.

I covered the idea of the 5 transport categories in my answer to smiler about a third of the way down :arrow_right: THIS PAGE

:open_mouth: I hope that folks don’t use the figure ‘1,000’ as the ‘freebie’ for all types of substances. :open_mouth:

5

I got the 1000 litres mark from one of our guys using a 1000 litre tank to take fuel round and dispense it to the gangs for light plant.

As I know that ADR is not applicable to it.

I may be mistaken but isnt there a max allowance for vehicles carrying mixed loads? eg a whitelining vehicle may carry a few bottles of gas, a fair amount of diesel etc etc

This is going back a few year mind when I was involved in ADR and i was only “a bit” involved.

If I remember there is a calculation and a max figure that you cannot exceed.

You probably have covered it in your post but I am that tired I cant read today :open_mouth:

6

mikeyb:
I got the 1000 litres mark from one of our guys using a 1000 litre tank to take fuel round and dispense it to the gangs for light plant.

Hi mikeb, That figure of 1,000ltrs is correct for Diesel fuel.

mikeyb:
As I know that ADR is not applicable to it.

Sorry Mikey, that’s not quite correct, because the 2kg dry-powder fire-extinguisher I mentioned above IS in ADR, and it’s the only subsection of ADR that DOES apply to that job. :wink:

mikeyb:
I may be mistaken but isnt there a max allowance for vehicles carrying mixed loads? eg a whitelining vehicle may carry a few bottles of gas, a fair amount of diesel etc etc

This is going back a few year mind when I was involved in ADR and i was only “a bit” involved.

If I remember there is a calculation and a max figure that you cannot exceed.

TBF mikey, that’s not a bad recollection you’ve had, but the Regs changed big-time in 2004. A couple of minor things happened in 2005 and 2007, but there’s just been another change that came in on 01/07/09.

Ther’s also the question of wording, so I’ll have a go at clarifying this for you…
There are limits applicable for carrying dangerous goods of different Transport Categories on board the same vehicle, BUT they work in the same way to give you a ‘freebie,’ rather than an absolute maximum.

There are only a few dangerous goods that have an absolute maximum amount allowed per vehicle load, but that doesn’t include petrol, diesel or propane. Dangerous goods of that type have a maximum allowed per vehicle, regardless of whether the driver holds an ADR licence, because they are spectacularly dangerous and very probably have a ‘freebie’ limit of zero.

mikeyb:
You probably have covered it in your post but I am that tired I cant read today :open_mouth:

I haven’t covered the subject of ‘freebies’ for carrying mixed Transport Categories, because there is now a calculation to be made, so I would have to decide on a case-by-case basis once somebody tells me what exactly it is that they wish to carry, how it’s packaged and the amounts. In any case, it’s no longer a part of an employed driver’s duties to know how to calculate this.

7

dieseldave:
Hi Rog, Your search is now over. :smiley:

Aren’t you glad you found us :question:

Yes - thanks very much Dave; I do have ADR from 3 years back when I was with a certain agency which I think is why the other driver asked me the question so thanks for the clarification which I will relay back to our company.

Rog

8

HarryMango:
Yes - thanks very much Dave; I do have ADR from 3 years back when I was with a certain agency which I think is why the other driver asked me the question so thanks for the clarification which I will relay back to our company.

Rog

Hi Rog, I’m glad to have helped. :smiley: