been thinking about this, and can honestly say, i’ve had my class 1 17 years, and had my tanks checked once, now i’m not saying its right, and be a ■■■■■ if you got caught, but in the current climate, i could see why people would maybe risk it.
thy had died diesel here for years the trick is to put it in a clear container in the sun bleaches the dye out. 
I knew of an independent petrol station just out of bradford city centre a year or so ago, that was supplying the “local” taxi trade with red, i was also told that HMRC had it under surveilance and were logging the reg numbers of all vehicles that entered it.
A couple of years ago i was delivering a catering van (isuzu rodeo) to scotland,i pulled into abington services for a break, as soon as i pulled up a bloke in a hi -vis coat with the HMRC logo on the back (there were quite a few of them around ) approached me with some sort dip stick device and asked if he could dip the tank so i said yes, all clean he rushed over to the irish truck just rolling in as he’d finished,so they do random checks.
To answer bretanna, when C & E dip your tank, they don’t just check the colour, they check for the additives which are put in red diesel to distinguish it from road fuel.
Years ago (about 40 or so), a cattle haulier my father knew used to use agricultural diesel (red) in his wagons. He used to boast that the fines were less than what he was saving by using the claret, until they confiscated his wagons!
here it was some kind of purple dye other than that it was regular diesel the dye is not uv stable so in direct sunlight the dye breaks down. They had dyed petrol here to some places still do same thing but with petrol not exactly recommended to leave in direct sun. 
I once heard you could filter red through carbon, and it takes the additives out, then bleach in the sun, and you have white. Not sure it will work, any one no? I dont blame people for trying but not something I could ever try, they seem to do it quite oftern up here, been checked three times in six months!
Newcastle-Paul:
I once heard you could filter red through carbon, and it takes the additives out, then bleach in the sun, and you have white. Not sure it will work, any one no?
Fullers Earth.
You can also add acid the red dye drops to the bottom like non drip paint gunge
then you’r left with normal shade of derv. The chemical trace is still there though!
As posted in fuel pump meters how do you know what you’r filling up with??
a large truckstop was selling the stuff not to long ago, wont do the pump or injectors much good
you could have had this in you’r tank without even being aware!
Running on red diesel was practical a few years ago, but in my (expensive) experience, modern common-rail engines in cars are less than happy when running on the cherry stuff.
Heating oil is also common approx 10 pence per litre below the price of red and only 5% vat but this
is no good for your engine and can be detected due to smell and smoke !
ady1:
my daughter wants to change her car,shes after a fiesta zetec-s,she wants the 1.6 petrol at £6998 as its lime green with a black chequred roof,
tax 85.25 -6 moths
30 mpg ish
mates selling a zetec-s 1.6 tdci for £4,000,silver
tax-£30 per year
60 mpg ish
ive tried to explain how much cheaper a diesel would cost to run,but lime green seems to be winning over silver,lovely to be young and no worries about money,theres always dad if im short
I’ve got a 59 reg Fiesta Style+ 1.25 petrol, when the low fuel light comes on it costs about £40-45 to fill, does about 300-350 miles on that.
FH16Globetrotter:
Running on red diesel was practical a few years ago, but in my (expensive) experience, modern common-rail engines in cars are less than happy when running on the cherry stuff.
Think you’ll find the current red is ok in common rail,it has been changed recently and is basicly white with a dye and a % bio diesel. The old stuff had alot more sulphur in it (dumped from the white). It has been changed for the new emmisions regs, and saves us buying some bloody expensive additive for the latest tractors.
ady1:
my daughter wants to change her car,shes after a fiesta zetec-s,she wants the 1.6 petrol at £6998 as its lime green with a black chequred roof,
tax 85.25 -6 moths
30 mpg ish
mates selling a zetec-s 1.6 tdci for £4,000,silver
tax-£30 per year
60 mpg ish
ive tried to explain how much cheaper a diesel would cost to run,but lime green seems to be winning over silver,lovely to be young and no worries about money,theres always dad if im short
Probably cheaper to insure too.
Sorry, sore subject. 
Last time i was dipped was about 20 years ago. I was 18 years old, in a transit going to Newcastle. Got stopped by Scotch Corner i think. Didn’t have a clue what he had in mind when he showed me his turkey baster!
Jet A1 with a bit of veg oil for lubricantion works great…not dyed either!
At 60ppl you can’t go wrong!
Rat
Chas:
Turbo:
I used to work for a recovery company picking up impounded vehicles for Customs and Excise for red diesel, They were sold off by C&E . So penaltys are quite severe! There was a wide range of vehicles too!I used to do that, & we collected them from all over the UK to drop them at a top secret C&E place near Doncaster (whoops, not so top secret now).
The biggest demand I heard of was £20k+, that didn’t include the fines, that was just the repayment for the ‘estimated’ lost duty.
There’d be 20-30 cars/vans & 5-10 trucks at any one time I visited, all parked up waiting for the next auction.
yeap! thats the secret place!
ady1:
my daughter wants to change her car,shes after a fiesta zetec-s,she wants the 1.6 petrol at £6998 as its lime green with a black chequred roof,
tax 85.25 -6 moths
30 mpg ish
mates selling a zetec-s 1.6 tdci for £4,000,silver
tax-£30 per year
60 mpg ish
ive tried to explain how much cheaper a diesel would cost to run,but lime green seems to be winning over silver,lovely to be young and no worries about money,theres always dad if im short
I’ve got two signs up on the garage door:
- Motor vehicles aren’t everything, but they sure keep the kids in touch
and
- I’ve never got any money, but I’ve stopped blaming my parents and started blaming my kids.
Thought they might bring a smile in these hard times.
I sold my previous car a VW Passat 1.8T with what was going to be band K road tax at £245 and bought a VW Polo 1.4TDI with £35 a year road tax and a mpg of 65+ in October 2009. I cant see me selling it for a long time, its very cheap motoring. On £20 I can do over 200 miles and thats not 200 miles of motorway driving and I still have 30 miles in the red
Theres a second hand car garage down the road from me that sells red diesel but I cant be asked to go down there with a 25 litre barrel every week. I too considered the veg oil but after looking into it you need to be careful, my engine is too new to take it and veg oil is only fractionally cheaper
it is not just the owner that gets in trouble the fuel suppler will get it as well under the Registered Dealers in Controlled Oil (RDCO) scheme if they suspect or know that the fuel is being used illegal fuel.
When I worked at a mini cab office in london most of the turkish drivers were running on red, thier way of thinking was that the money they save was worth losing the car if they got caught.
I exhibit old machinery at Steam Fairs etc and at SOME of the event’s the vintage tractor’s get checked for red fuel by C&E. Apparently if they are moving at a show it is classed as a public place and white diesel is required, for Ploughing Matches red is fine as public are not allowed near working machinery. Also they don’t always dip the tank, just hold a device over the exhaust which shows what fuel is being burnt.
Pete.