Red - you are responsible for cleaning your tanks!!!

It may be worth investing in one of those tubes that fit insode your tank underneath your filler cap that always contains white diesel? I mean better to buy a single gallon that thousands of gallons!
 
[ QUOTE ]
Only if they leave you with a liferaft and paddle to get back home!

[/ QUOTE ]

I have it on good authority that it is now compulsary for all vessels to have a liferaft onboard - not for safety reasons but just in case your boat is confiscated by HMRC - then they sell it at auction and get even more money for their coffers .... and charge you a fee for the confiscation and transport to the auction site too /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif
 
That would be difficult in practice and do not forget - the fact you have any red in ypur tank means that you must be using red illegally because it is the use of red without having paid the new duty on it that is banned.

I can do 100 miles in my boat and use 220 gallons. I can do 100 miles and use 45 gallons - can you imagine having to explain all that to someone ? But their answer would be to ask for the receipt of when and how you paid the new duty on the fuel in your tanks. If you say it was already in your tanks bought legally before then that is not enough - you will have to show that you have paid the full new duty on that red in your tanks - ie, sent a cheque away the day that red ended.
 
The life raft would be considered part of the equipment belonging to the boat and so once confiscated you would have to agree a hire fee from them so that you can reach the shore. I am sure their rates will be reasonable, so there is no need to worry. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
You cannot do the trip to jersey because you will have to make a note about how much fuel you have in your tanks when returning to UK waters and then send a cheque away to cover the full UK duty on that.

The supply of red no matters if its jersey or anywhere else would not be illegal - using it without paying full tax in UK waters would be illegal.

The same if you bought it on a tanker at sea - as soon as you enter UK waters - bang you are liable for the duty and tax.

You would be best to fill up with White in Guernsey and then try and figure out on the way back if you feel like paying the extra duty! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
I agree with your assessment of the situation and just to add a little extra confusion

Free passage between European union countries of individuals is an important part of the EU charter.

As Red/duty free fuel is still available in a few EU countries then Britain can not stop me using duty free fuel between passages of member EU countries and could certainly not force me to dump/clean my tanks on a return passage from Belgium ? or where ever else has managed to hang on to red.

All you need do is to retain one receipt for red from any EU country.
 
BUT if they can show that say you used 100 gallons to enter the UK and arrived at your port with say 500 gallons purchased outside the UK, then brining in some sort of universal ' you cannot try and escape tax' rule, they would prosecute on not paying the duty on the remaining fuel?!!

They could argue that there was a free movement of the boat between tyhe countries but once here you cannot use the red without paying duty on it - the only purpose of the rremaining red must be for use in the UK bla bla.

I simply do not trust them .... the rules will be made up as they go along.
 
Worth adding that this tax demand on red would break previous practice whenever fuel duty has been raised beforehand. If duty went up at 23:59 on Budget Day nobody demanded the extra few quid x several million motorists at 00:01 the following day. You just got stung for more next time at the pump.

That, I suspect, would be viable in Court as "established custom and practice" when fuel duty was raised. I'm no lawyer though, and when I worked for the Revenue it was an article of faith that the C&E lot were pretty much beyond the law.

Is it just me or does nayone else detect a definate "anti boater" thrust to the suggested rules here?
 
So why is it that they don't sting you for the difference in duty between UK and France when you drive off the ferry having filled up the car in Calais? Should be no different with white diesel from France, Guernsey or anywhere else, surely?
 
In the case of motorists they do not bother - you get away with a tankfull - ok.

However in the case of boaters they can bring in a lot more fuel - my next boat has 3500 UK gallon tanks - hence if I arrived in the UK with 3300 gallons left and had a range of over 4000 miles and they understood that, I cannot see them letting that go.

Mind you you can bring in fags and booze for personal use without paying extra tax so maybe I am wrong and just not trusting them enough?

However, it does seem that already the onus and cost of tank cleaning has been passed over to the boater so that they can police the issue better - even though as the article stated - they would not answer on the question of coming back from the CI's with red in the tanks.

I have just become very untrustfull.... the way the article reads they are stating the boats have to clean out their tanks by the given date .... that is what they are saying not me. They do not ask motorists to do that.
 
Look behind you! ... you are getting paranoid ... (getting?!) ... ok - we do need to keep on top of what the government are going to do with marine fuel ... but do we really need to read things into it that have not been stated yet? Ask the question ... don't run around saying how stupid they are and all hell will break loose without first finding out what it is they actually expect of us.
 
Anyway - I don't think you'll have much of an issue with Red ... nor Antifouling ... /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Other threads that may be of interest

O
South Coast - Cheap boating option
4 5 6
Replies
107
Views
3K
Boathook
Boathook

Share this page

Top