The Use of Rebated Fuel ("Red Diesel") in Vehicle Mounted MEWPs Used on Public Roads in the UK

As a general rule the law (The Hydrocarbon Oil Duties Act 1979 etc.) requires that all road vehicles must use fuel on which duty has been fully paid, in other words DERV or "white diesel", for all diesel fuelled vehicles. The use of rebated fuel or "red diesel" for road vehicles is, with certain exceptions, illegal.

The Act is enforced by HM Customs and Revenue who have wide ranging powers to sample fuel, detain vehicles, enter premises and seize records from anyone they suspect of using rebated fuel illegally. The illegal use of rebated fuel attracts the following penalties:-

• A penalty of £250 may be imposed for each offence and the duty rebate recovered.
• In all cases, the vehicle may be seized and forfeited.
• If the vehicle owner or user's conduct involves dishonesty, a penalty of up to 100% of the duty evaded may be imposed.
• Each vehicle in a fleet may be treated as a separate offence
• Obstructing a Customs Officer inspecting premises or vehicles or testing or sampling oil may result in an unlimited fine or imprisonment of up to two years, or both.

The only exceptions to this general rule are vehicles which are referred to in Schedule 1 of the Hydrocarbon Oil Duties Act 1979 as "Excepted Vehicles". These include two categories which are of relevance to operators of vehicle mounted MEWPs, namely "mobile cranes" and "road construction vehicles".

1. Mobile Cranes
 
It has long been argued in the access industry that there are great similarities between mobile cranes and truck mounted access platforms, and that they should be treated equally with regard to the use of rebated fuel. An appeal heard by the High Court in February 2000 concluded that truck mounted boom type platforms, fitted with lifting eyes, came within the definition of mobile cranes in Schedule 1 of the Hydrocarbon Oil Duties Act 1979, and could therefore legally use rebated fuel or "red diesel".

It should be noted that this judgement applies solely to the use of rebated fuel and not to any other aspects of road vehicle legislation. 

2. Road Construction Vehicles
 
In August 2000 Customs and Revenue issued advice that van mounted MEWPs used "solely for the purpose of installing and repairing street-lighting" fell within the definition of "road construction vehicle" and could therefore legally use rebated fuel. It is however extremely important to recognise that as soon as a van mounted MEWP running on red diesel is used for any purpose that is not "solely for the purpose of installing and repairing street-lighting", an offence is committed. This means that should a vehicle, not on street-lighting work, be stopped by Customs and Revenue and found to be running on rebated fuel, both the owner and hirer are liable to prosecution, seizure of the vehicle and payment of both a fine and the back duty on the fuel.

From this it might seem that changing over from red diesel to white, depending on the purpose for which the van mounted MEWP is being used, is a possible solution. However the procedure recommended by Customs to ensure that no residue of the red diesel tracer die remains, is both time consuming and costly. It consists of the rebated fuel being drained down, the system flushed through with fully duty paid fuel, re-drained, the filter changed and the vehicle fuelled again on fully duty paid fuel. Consequently it can be seen that operating van mounted MEWPs on red or rebated fuel is not a viable option unless it can be guaranteed that they will be solely used for street-lighting installation or maintenance. Owners of van mounted MEWPs fuelled with red diesel who hire them out for uses other than solely street-lighting will put both themselves and their customers at risk of prosecution.