I think my lorry looks to have been running on red diesel when it was delivered last July. I haven’t used it since but I’ve put about 50 litres of white in since I got the lorry and only noticed when I was double checking the fuel gauge. Looking in the tank filler with a torch I’m pretty sure it has a red tinge to it. I did drain a bit off but it’s difficult to tell.
One of the drivers at the yard said the tank would need draining, removing and steam cleaning, etc. Someone suggested calling C&A for advice but I don’t want to give them any details for obvious reasons. My plan is to drain the tank off, change the engine filters and put some white DERV in the lorry tank.
speedway:
I think my lorry looks to have been running on red diesel when it was delivered last July. I haven’t used it since but I’ve put about 50 litres of white in since I got the lorry and only noticed when I was double checking the fuel gauge. Looking in the tank filler with a torch I’m pretty sure it has a red tinge to it. I did drain a bit off but it’s difficult to tell.
One of the drivers at the yard said the tank would need draining, removing and steam cleaning, etc. Someone suggested calling C&A for advice but I don’t want to give them any details for obvious reasons. My plan is to drain the tank off, change the engine filters and put some white DERV in the lorry tank.
Any advice or suggestions would be welcome.
how would calling a clothing store help you with the red diesel problem?
speedway:
Looking in the tank filler with a torch I’m pretty sure it has a red tinge to it. I did drain a bit off but it’s difficult to tell.
Any red tinge could just as easily be coming from the sealer inside the tank, or even a tinge of rust if it’s an old steel tank.
Siphon off a decent amount (at least a couple of pints) into a clear glass container. If it’s red diesel it will be fairly easy to spot, there will be no mistaking it.
speedway:
One of the drivers at the yard said the tank would need draining, removing and steam cleaning, etc. Someone suggested calling C&A for advice but I don’t want to give them any details for obvious reasons. My plan is to drain the tank off, change the engine filters and put some white DERV in the lorry tank.
Personally I wouldn’t worry about it! After the existing diesel has been burned and another full tank added it will be barely traceable. Though to be honest if it’s been sitting since July, I would be inclined to drain the tank anyay and put fresh stuff in - there’s a good chance it’s gathered a fair bit of moisture (i.e water) since it was last on the road.
speedway:
I think my lorry looks to have been running on red diesel when it was delivered last July. I haven’t used it since but I’ve put about 50 litres of white in since I got the lorry and only noticed when I was double checking the fuel gauge. Looking in the tank filler with a torch I’m pretty sure it has a red tinge to it. I did drain a bit off but it’s difficult to tell.
One of the drivers at the yard said the tank would need draining, removing and steam cleaning, etc. Someone suggested calling C&A for advice but I don’t want to give them any details for obvious reasons. My plan is to drain the tank off, change the engine filters and put some white DERV in the lorry tank.
Any advice or suggestions would be welcome.
how would calling a clothing store help you with the red diesel problem?
I think C&A’s is probably a more suited name for customs!
speedway:
I think my lorry looks to have been running on red diesel when it was delivered last July. I haven’t used it since but I’ve put about 50 litres of white in since I got the lorry and only noticed when I was double checking the fuel gauge. Looking in the tank filler with a torch I’m pretty sure it has a red tinge to it. I did drain a bit off but it’s difficult to tell.
One of the drivers at the yard said the tank would need draining, removing and steam cleaning, etc. Someone suggested calling C&A for advice but I don’t want to give them any details for obvious reasons. My plan is to drain the tank off, change the engine filters and put some white DERV in the lorry tank.
Any advice or suggestions would be welcome.
how would calling a clothing store help you with the red diesel problem?
I think C&A’s is probably a more suited name for customs!
badoom tishhhhh
but, in the respect that you are meaning it, i would agree with you
Thanks for the replies. I’m going to syphon off a couple of pints as suggested and check it for make sure. If it is red I can use it in my generator set.
It’s a pain as the lorry is carrying a fairground ride and C&A target them when enroute to fairs.
The rule used to be 3% was allowed so if you fill the tank with white when it is about empty you will be fine, you should change the filters anyway if it hasn’t run for a year.
When I ran a belly tank I just used to use the red and put white (Greek Brown) in it to come home and got dipped several times in the UK, never by C&A though
Just pumped a couple of litres off into a clear pop bottle and apart from being dirty it looks like it’s got a bit of a reddish tinge but not a lot. (and no it wasn’t a cherryade bottle) So the plan is to pump it all out and straight into my generator set tank, take the DERV tank drain bung out, clean it out, change the filter and refill with white.
A mate of mine is ex-plod and is going to make enquiries as to what the position is if C&A, M&S or H&M pull you over for a dip.
Hiya when the fuel tankers deliver red diesel to plant or farm yards if they refuel with white after red
they never wash out…carry on and don,t bother. just keep filling up with legal stuff.
John
Slightly off centre but all of ours were running bio up until a few months back until they discovered that it wasn’t much cheaper and fuel economy was affected for the worse, so we are now back on normal. All the trucks have to be re-fuelled daily (in case some spanner of a TM forgets to order 50,000 litres and the tank runs dry, we have a few days in the tank). The point is, as we fill up daily, it only ‘tops up’ the chip fat, effectivly diluting it a bit more every time so i guess the same could be said for red, it will just get a bit weaker in colour/content. This is easily spotted (with bio) as the foam visible at the neck looks ‘dirty’ and it still smells like the back of chippy!! And MPG is increasing over my ‘same old route night in nght out’ and it doesn’t smoke like it was on fire…well, only a small fire now
Hiya…here,s a good one!!! i was filling up one day at our yard and noticed several transits
with caravans park on some unused ground next to our yard. I mentioned this to our transport
manager. he pointed out that it was impossible to get any diesel out of our tank as we had
electronic keys.i said i was thinking more about a 2,000litre tank of red (out of site down the
yard) that filled our small fleet of 9 forktrucks. that had no lock and was gravity feed.he replied
they,ll not use red in their vehicles its illegal. i walked away and said nothing.two days later
there was no fuel for the fork trucks.he said thats strange it was only filled last week.
I never rated him very much… do you agree.
John
3300John:
Hiya when the fuel tankers deliver red diesel to plant or farm yards if they refuel with white after red
they never wash out…carry on and don,t bother. just keep filling up with legal stuff.
John
when delivering derv you have to flush the hose out with derv on the drop before usually by pumping about 80 liters throw the hose then do the same to get the derv out of the hose
I got pulled on the M1 years ago coming home from Greece.
The last of the “Cherry” had been pumped in in Greece then topped up with white in Europe on the way home.
When tugged on the M1,everyone was there,and when the Customs drew a bottle of derv from my tank that was obviously red,the guy had a big smile on his face as he rushed off to his caravan to test it.
He was not lookimg so happy when he came back as he said the concentration did not show any dye and it did not qualify it as red diesel and he had to send me on my way,RESULT!
After all the advice I decided to phone Customs and Excise (C&A) to see what they said. They logged the call and gave me the number of the Manchester Fuel Testing unit based at Manchester Airport. Their advice was to drain the tank, change the filters and refill with white and keep the bills. The calls have been logged so if I do get dipped then it’s now on record that they’ve been notified and no action would be taken. I’ve also got tha names and positions of the people I’ve spoken to.
target them when enroute to fairs.
I meant M&S. 
They’ll even take Kero now 