Carrying petrol

[John Kennett]

I found this on the HSE web site:

http://www.hse.gov.uk/lau/lacs/65-9.htm

This circular aims to explain the law on the type and capacity of portable petrol containers that can be used to store petrol, filled at petrol stations and carried on vehicles.

Might be interesting to anyone with a large petrol engine!

John

[Suzuki416]

John,

Where do the 20 litre 'ARMY' jerrycans fit in this?
This article seems to miss this?
I'm even thinking of getting another 1.


Pete

[John Kennett]

This is how I see the situation:

The Petroleum (Consolidation) Act 1928 and its associated regulations do not exercise any control over the carriage of petrol on vehicles for private or work use.

The commercial carriage of petrol is covered Carriage of Dangerous Goods regulations, which do not cover petrol carried on a vehicle for private use.

At filling stations, there is no specific legal restriction on the type or number of containers that can be filled, although Petroleum Licensing Authorities often use licensing conditions to limit the containers sizes. You will sometimes see these conditions on notices at petrol stations and the limits are normally 5 litres for plastic containers and 20 litres for metal containers.

So as far as I can see it is legal to fill up a load of 20 litre jerry cans and transport them in your car, so long as it is for private use. I must admit that I find this surprising and there may be something that I've missed!

[Phil]

my local garage had a visit from a licencing officer recently and were advised that the container must indicate that petrol is carried i.e. according to him a label or marker pen etc.

No problem about filling my 2 -20 litre jerries although I 've heard of others having limits

At worse go to Tescos or somewhere busy and pay by credit card at the pump -the chances of any one noticing /being bothered etc is remote

[Mark Halliday]

Last year, Sainbury's Chichester was the official refueling point for the Festival of Speed and I remenber signs saying something like you could only fill 2 x 20l cans at one time if you were a competitor. 5l as normal for us plebs.

[Bilge Rat]

I've seen jet skiiers filling up containers desined to carry water at my local Sainsburys, one guy even had a container that said "for distilled water only" surely thats not right, i use 20 litre jerry cans designed to carry petrol or diesel around, if i had an accident i'd stand at least half a chance of them not being ruptured, a plastic water bottle or container is however potentially a bomb .....but then again the average jet skiier has got a brain as small as his boat anyway, or maybe they live that close to the edge its a buzz risking it all for the sport !!

[Steve Care]

Originally Posted by Phil

my local garage had a visit from a licencing officer recently and were advised that the container must indicate that petrol is carried i.e. according to him a label or marker pen etc.

No problem about filling my 2 -20 litre jerries although I 've heard of others having limits

At worse go to Tescos or somewhere busy and pay by credit card at the pump -the chances of any one noticing /being bothered etc is remote

I tried this with a 20L plastic petrol can at tesco in the IOW and they were mad busy. They turned the pump off and came out to tell me I was only aload 5L.
Went to the garage round the corner to fill the rest up.
Now bought The metal Jerry cans

[Ribald]

Originally Posted by Steve Care

I tried this with a 20L plastic petrol can at tesco in the IOW and they were mad busy. They turned the pump off and came out to tell me I was only aload 5L.

Had no trouble at all from them when I filled up my 20L o/b tank - far right hand lane, back pump is best

[Nick West]

Originally Posted by Ribald

Had no trouble at all from them when I filled up my 20L o/b tank - far right hand lane, back pump is best

Same pump that I use.....but that's our cover blown now!

The notice on the entrance to the kiosk is as a result of a directive from the IW fire brigade, 5ltrs plastic / 20ltrs metal. What I find odd is that the tanks that I fill are purpose made 25ltr plastic quicksilver tanks that I then transport and install on the boat, surely they're fit for purpose? What's the difference in the level of catastrophe between my cheap and nasty 5ltr tank (bought at Tesco) going up in the back of the car compared with 20ltrs......I'll burn brighter and longer I suppose.

nick

[Jelly]

Just a thought there are quite a lot of plastic fuel tanks on cars these days