Red Diesel?

[Farmer]

Does anyone use red? Vehicle is for a farm hence agricultural use.

 

[Eric]

Does anyone use red? Vehicle is for a farm hence agricultural use.

Is the vehicle registered as an agricultural vehicle? ( I thought that was a must for using red diesel) and I also thought that you could only use it for travelling between parcels of land over a short distance, and for actually carrying out an agricultural operation. These seem very tight restrictions for you to be using red diesel. Are you actually saying that is all you use the vehicle for, viz, no personal us at all!

 

[CRH]

Is the vehicle registered as an agricultural vehicle? ( I thought that was a must for using red diesel) and I also thought that you could only use it for travelling between parcels of land over a short distance, and for actually carrying out an agricultural operation. These seem very tight restrictions for you to be using red diesel. Are you actually saying that is all you use the vehicle for, viz, no personal us at all!

I thought they had clamped down on red diesel and made it even more restrictive to what you can put it in. I'm guessing it would never be able to touch the roads and therefore not require the VED either?

 

[Cheshire cat]

At a local country show close to me (Cholmondeley Castle), authorities were stopping and fining vintage tractors who had used red diesel to travel the couple of miles to the show.

 

[ECrider]

At a local country show close to me (Cholmondeley Castle), authorities were stopping and fining vintage tractors who had used red diesel to travel the couple of miles to the show.

pretty low hanging fruit, I'd rather they filled in some pot holes.

 

[landmannnn]

Does anyone use red? Vehicle is for a farm hence agricultural use.

You can, but as @Eric says, plenty of hoops to jump through including a maximum of 1.5km journeys on the road.
I can't imagine it would save much money on a 40p per litre saving.

 

[Bayford]

pretty low hanging fruit, I'd rather they filled in some pot holes.

They have done a farmers in Somerset recenty who had done a neighbour a favour and towed a horsebox behind hisr tractor for a couple of miles because equine doesn't count as agricultural where red diesel or vehicle tax is concerned.

We had a merlo telehandler stolen last year from our land and a crime number for the insurance claim was the best the police could manage except for the inspiring response that they don't have the resources to investigate minor crime like the theft of a £100K vehicle.

 

[Blackwolf]

Whilst a Diesel Grenadier will run quite happily on red it is extremely unlikely that you would be able to use rebated fuel legally. See https://www.gov.uk/guidance/using-r...se-notice-75#vehicles-that-may-use-red-diesel

Quoting from the link above:

3.2 Agricultural vehicles​

To be an ‘agricultural vehicle’ and use red diesel, the vehicle must meet one of the following 4 definitions, and be used for a purpose defined in paragraph 3.3.

It must be one of the following:

• a tractor
• a single-seat vehicle of no more than 1,000kg that is designed and constructed mainly for off-road use
• a vehicle only used for agricultural, horticultural or forestry purposes, that is licensed by the DVLA to use public roads only when passing between 2 areas of land occupied by the same person, and that distance is less than 1.5 kilometres by road
• a vehicle with permanently attached or built-in machinery used for handling or processing agricultural, horticultural, aquatic farming or forestry produce or materials — this category includes vehicles such as combine harvesters, crop sprayers, forage harvesters, pea viners, mobile seed cleaning machines and feed milling machines

Vehicles designed mainly for carrying goods, produce, and implements are trucks. They’re not agricultural vehicles even if the goods, produce, or implements being carried are for, or a result of, an agricultural activity.

In principle a Unimog would be classed by DVLA and HMRC as a truck and the previous paragraph will apply to it.

We would consider a Unimog to be a tractor for the purposes of HODA only if it:

• has only front seats, for driver and no more than 2 passengers
• has no load bay or only has an open load bay
• is licensed as an agricultural machine and used only as an agricultural tractor as described in paragraph 20B(2) of Schedule 2 to the Vehicle Excise and Registration Act 1994

A Unimog can also be an agricultural vehicle if it has permanently attached or built-in machinery used for handling or processing agricultural, horticultural, aquatic farming, or forestry produce or materials.

3.3 When an agricultural vehicle can use red diesel​

An agricultural vehicle defined in paragraph 3.2, can use red diesel when being used for:

• purposes relating to agriculture (including aquatic farming), horticulture or forestry
• cutting verges, hedges or trees that border public roads
• clearing or otherwise dealing with frost, ice, snow or flooding including when the vehicle is going to or from the place where it’s used for these purposes, and for collecting and returning the necessary equipment and materials

Agricultural vehicles can also use red diesel when being used for any use on:

• private land where it’s normally kept to be used mainly for any of the purposes in the previous paragraph — for example, if a farmer or agricultural contractor keeps an agricultural vehicle on their own, or anyone else’s land mainly for agriculture use, they can use diesel in it for any other purposes on that land
• a golf course, driving range, or land maintained by a community amateur sports club, where it’s kept

Read section 12 for what we mean by activities falling within:

• agriculture
• horticulture
• aquatic farming
• forestry

Based on the above, the third bullet point is the only one that could possibly be relevant to a Grenadier, so it would have to be registered as an Agricultural Vehicle with DVLA and ONLY used for permitted activities and then it would then also be subject to the conditions in 3.3. Technically therefore it would be possible, but it would not be particularly sensible.

 

[The_Ick]

We decided that the savings was not worth the effort to use in our construction equipment. In the US it's only available at a few inconvenient locations.

 

[Logsplitter]

In the U.K. construction equipment cannot use red diesel. Whilst agricultural, horticultural all and fishing industries can use red diesel. And quite bizarrely , leisure boats use red diesel, although you have to declare how much is for heating and how much is for propulsion as heating fuel attracts less duty. I’m sure plenty of boat owners over declare how much is for heating.

 

[Lollo050968]

If you use in Germany, and you will be catched by local authorities, they could calculate back until the day you got the car….. high back payment, high fine, …. Too high risk

 

[Happyoldgit]

I believe [but may be wrong] that red in the UK not only carries the red dye but also carries a chemical marker that enables detection even if the vehicle is subsequently run on white diesel.

 

[Jeremy996]

The red dye is a marker in itself - the only way to reliably clean the fuel system is to replace it all!
HMRC are quite happy to go full CSI if they think you have been using red for the wrong purposes.

 

[Blackwolf]

I believe [but may be wrong] that red in the UK not only carries the red dye but also carries a chemical marker that enables detection even if the vehicle is subsequently run on white diesel.

The chemical markers remain in your tank long after the rebated fuel has gone. It used to be possible to filter out the dye with Fuller's Earth and - I am told - at one time there was a hugely lucrative business across the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland involving red fuel from one country reappearing as white in the other. For this and similar reasons the chemical markers were introduced.

As noted above in the UK the financial penalties if caught are extreme, and I am told that the authorities tend to assume you owe fuel duty for the vehicle's total mileage on top of a hefty fine. HMRC also have greater powers of entry and search than any other agency and can enter and search your home or premises at any time without warrant. Don't mess with the tax man, it really isn't worth it!