red diesel anyone know the law?

Evan farmer said:

Is there drain hole or would i have to look for old manual hand pump to pump it out ?

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bung under the tank / 3/4 spanner iirc

If you're really worried about it, ask your local transport police, stupid as it may sound but it won't hurt to get the advice from the people most likely to tag you and they are more likely to be able to give you some other options (if they're worth their salt).

Evan farmer said:

Is there drain hole or would i have to look for old manual hand pump to pump it out ?

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I think you are totally over thinking this.

I suppose it depends how much red you have, I assume you were low on fuel hence the desperate need to use red? First the system will not be dyed red from having 20 litres of red in the tank.

Get it going and drive it about, drive later on at night when the VOSA inspectors are all home drinking tea and just drive it till the fuel light comes on, go to the garage and put 25 litres in it, drive that off and fill again with 25 litres, each time run it till it's on reserve and then brim the tank. I stuck 20 litres of red in my 90 about 6 years ago as I was low on fuel and working on a friends farm using the 90 all day. I left with the fuel light on and filled it up at a local garage I was changing the fuel filter a couple of weeks later and there wasn't even the slightest tinge of pink.

Keep the receipt and all the MOT related paperwork and all sorts of receipts you have to prove the situation. If stopped just say, "Please see this wad of paperwork, it was off road for months, used it with some red, it was on the empty light and I bought this amount of fuel etc. etc. MOT will prove miles travelled".

If you are really worried, after your MOT take it onto a motorway or something and just drive till it's empty, refuel as said above in 25 litre fills and burn it all off in an afternoon. If you are caught on the same say as a new MOT after being off road you have a really good viable excuse.

discomania said:

I think you are totally over thinking this.

I suppose it depends how much red you have, I assume you were low on fuel hence the desperate need to use red? First the system will not be dyed red from having 20 litres of red in the tank.

Get it going and drive it about, drive later on at night when the VOSA inspectors are all home drinking tea and just drive it till the fuel light comes on, go to the garage and put 25 litres in it, drive that off and fill again with 25 litres, each time run it till it's on reserve and then brim the tank. I stuck 20 litres of red in my 90 about 6 years ago as I was low on fuel and working on a friends farm using the 90 all day. I left with the fuel light on and filled it up at a local garage I was changing the fuel filter a couple of weeks later and there wasn't even the slightest tinge of pink.

Keep the receipt and all the MOT related paperwork and all sorts of receipts you have to prove the situation. If stopped just say, "Please see this wad of paperwork, it was off road for months, used it with some red, it was on the empty light and I bought this amount of fuel etc. etc. MOT will prove miles travelled".

If you are really worried, after your MOT take it onto a motorway or something and just drive till it's empty, refuel as said above in 25 litre fills and burn it all off in an afternoon. If you are caught on the same say as a new MOT after being off road you have a really good viable excuse.

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It's not going to move anytime soon unless you're prepared to change my engine

Quite a few friends of mine had swabs taken from the exhaust. It was a long time ago but one of them had a hell of a time proving his Land Rover never left a local quarry for its first 20 years. Not sure if they still do it nor what it proves other than it has had red through it.
If the tank has normal diesel in it then its legal as far as I know.

Colthebrummie said:

The police and VOSA are often doing spot checks between Thatcham and Newbury. They mostly pull white vans over to check everything from diesel colour to tread of the tyres. They only dip the tank, they don't take the fuel lines apart to check unless they have had a tip-off. I was once told that it is almost impossible to get rid of all traces of the red dye which would make me worry about buying an old diesel landy as who knows what has been put in it. Apparently, the IRA used to filter red through moss from peat bogs to get rid of the dye and sell it on to raise funds. I have no proof that this is true however.

Col

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I heard they ran it through drums of cat litter, (Fullers Earth), to clean the trace off ...

About 10 years ago, hmrc pulled into our site compound (pipeline contract) and dipped all tractors. Carillion got done for their pipe hauling tractors. A colleague got fined and heavy back tax (fencing). My mate got fined and small back tax because he hadn't owned the tractor for long. His other tractor had no tax disk, no fine, no action taken.
They didn't catch any of the tractors on the road, they simply did anything with a tax disk because they weren't being use for agri, horti or forestry. Agri fencing didn't count as it was contracting for a pipeline.
My mate is a farmer and they advised that they would only interpret fencing on his own land to be exempt from derv. They also advised tank drain and filter whenever swapping from red to derv