Travelling through the tunnel today in the car about 8.15 am, looked in the mirror and therewas a Total fuel tanker behind me with no ■■■■■■, is this new or was he running empty?.
At a guess I would say it was new. Empty ones are worse than full ones I would think John.
It could have been brand new on trade plates,If it as never had fuel in it ,it would not need an ■■■■■■.
rocky 7:
It could have been brand new on trade plates,If it as never had fuel in it ,it would not need an ■■■■■■.
Or coming back from MOT or repair, they have to be purged for that.
Probably a dedicated Diesel/Gas oil tank on UN code 1202 which does not need ■■■■■■. Petrol tankers always run on 1203 and require ■■■■■■ because they will have petrol vapours on board.
Grumpygraeme:
Probably a dedicated Diesel/Gas oil tank on UN code 1202 which does not need ■■■■■■. Petrol tankers always run on 1203 and require ■■■■■■ because they will have petrol vapours on board.
Unusual to have dedicated tankers for UN1202 diesel, but you are correct, the guide says “check and allow” if it is UN1203 then it comes under “convoy.”
UN1202 is listed as tunnel code D/E. The Dartford tunnel is classified a C
Most fuel tankers carry a “mixed load” of fuel grades and they do not clean out between loads, so often run under UN1203
I once asked the question, how come fuel tankers can get away without blanking caps on the delivery hoses? when any other ADR tank requires them 
There are a lot of companies at the Coryton, Vopak and Esso terminals around the Dartford Crossing to be engaged in Commercial work ( Hauliers,Bus Garages, Industrial etc) involving mixed deliveries of Diesel/Gas Oil/Kero etc to run dedicated tankers to this task on 1202. When I worked at BP we did a mix of Commercial and forecourt work and because of that fact we had to run 1203 and be escorted every time.
With regard to leaving hoses uncapped the instructions we had was to leave uncapped when delivering petrol, but to cap when doing diesel to avoid spillages as diesel won’t dry up. Perhaps if you capped petrol in a pipe you could get an explosive atmosphere form that could flash when you pulled the hose off the rack at the next delivery…