http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Boat-Diesel-Tax/
Pleasure craft have always been allowed to buy "red" diesel i.e. fuel dyed for identification with a lower tax status than DERV (Diesel Engined Road Vehicles). This fuel is available for off-road,agricultural and industrial uses. Canal boats and pleasure craft are non-road users of diesel fuel, often operate on a limited budget, and should not be subjected to this inappropriate taxation.
If any one who agrees with this protest would kindly visit the above site and register them selves it would be most helpful, or your next trip around the bay or fishing trip will cost you more!!!
Loss of Red Diesel for Boaters
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UBT - Timbo
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Re: Loss of Red Diesel for Boaters
I'd certainly agree with the petition....except that I got ripped off by a yard owner, when we hired a canal boat a few years ago....Timby wrote:http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Boat-Diesel-Tax/
......If any one who agrees with this protest would kindly visit the above site and register them selves it would be most helpful.
Like a car/van hire, you take the boat out "fuelled to the brim" and then you bring it back, and anything they need to add (to bring it back up to "full") they charge you for. Fair enough.
Except that at the time, I didn't know about "Red Diesel" and they charged us the "going rate" for "Road Diesel"......the b*ggers. (And we're not talking about only a few litres here....canal boats have quite large "tanks"...
)Didn't find out till later, when a friend enquired how the trip went...!
regards,
Tim
I've added my signature but don't expect any positive response. The UK and Belgium are the last two EU countries which have still exercised the opt out in respect of red diesel for recreational craft. However its one of those things which is acted on in the spirit of the law, I've spent most of the last three years on my boat in France - where white diesel has been mandatory for some years.
You can still legally carry red diesel for heating and generators, and most boaters just buy an occasional "token" amount of white diesel should they ever be challenged. I have never heard of French customs trying to dip anyone's tank, and remember an occasion in Verdun where the local police were very helpful in redirecting traffic while a number of boats were receiving "Fioul" (clearly marked), from a tanker on the quayside.
When the red diesel becomes banned in the UK, I'd recommend that any boat owner switches to an electric motor and then uses red diesel to power the generator that charges the batteries - or go back to proper sailing using windpower.
You can still legally carry red diesel for heating and generators, and most boaters just buy an occasional "token" amount of white diesel should they ever be challenged. I have never heard of French customs trying to dip anyone's tank, and remember an occasion in Verdun where the local police were very helpful in redirecting traffic while a number of boats were receiving "Fioul" (clearly marked), from a tanker on the quayside.
When the red diesel becomes banned in the UK, I'd recommend that any boat owner switches to an electric motor and then uses red diesel to power the generator that charges the batteries - or go back to proper sailing using windpower.
Apart from which these petitions are a sop to the public anyway. Look at the road pricing petition!
Millions of signature and all we got in response was a note from Tony Bliar, telling us how we all needed road pricing so it will be introduced regardless, because Tony knows best.
They are an excellent way for the politicos to ameliorate public feeling without actually doing anything.
Millions of signature and all we got in response was a note from Tony Bliar, telling us how we all needed road pricing so it will be introduced regardless, because Tony knows best.
They are an excellent way for the politicos to ameliorate public feeling without actually doing anything.