Buying and transporting road fuel in cans

[ITSv40]

Originally Posted by Tannaton

^^^ That's what I was looking for, and is where the petrol can sizes come from :

A portable petrol storage container must—

(a)have a nominal capacity —
(i)no greater than 10 litres if made of plastic; and
(ii)no greater than 20 litres if made of metal;
(b)have a total capacity between 10% and 15% more than the nominal capacity;
(c)be made of either metal or plastic that is suitable and safe for the purpose and will not significantly degrade due to exposure to petrol or naturally occurring ultra-violet radiation;
(d)be designed and constructed so that—
(i)it is reasonably robust and not liable to break under the normal conditions of use;
(ii)the escape of liquid or vapour is prevented;
(iii)petrol can be poured safely from it; and
(iv)it is not unsteady when placed on a flat surface;
(e)be marked or labelled in a legible and indelible form with—
(i)the words “PETROL” and “HIGHLY FLAMMABLE”;
(ii)an appropriate hazard warning sign;
(iii)the nominal capacity in litres; and
(iv)the manufacturer’s name and the date and month of manufacture.

But no mention of how much you can buy?

You can legally store up to 30 litres, so I would assume you can also buy 30 litres. It would be nonsensical to have to buy lesser amounts at different times up to a maximum of 30 litres.

This would appear to answer the question. https://www.hse.gov.uk/cdg/commonpro...20be%20applied). As a private individual - I assume in this instance you are - ADR regulations don't apply.

[abdiel]

Originally Posted by baggy798

Are you a white guy?

Only when he drops a full jerry can on his big toe!

[Tannaton]

Originally Posted by john.wigley

You make an interesting point, 'T'. I feel that the application of a little common sense is necessary in situations like this.

You say 'our village', so I'm assuming that the council concerned is your local parish council. I must admit that their action does seem a little Draconian, but look at it from their point of view. Has there been a problem with this recently - large quantities, repeat offences, etc.?

Our PC provides and maintains a number of waste bins throughout the village for the benefit of both residents of, and visitors to, the village. There is a not inconsiderable cost in so doing which is paid for out of their precept. For people to abuse this privilege may be considered antisocial to say the least and can result in an increase in littering in the village.

I know from attending PC meetings as both a member of the public and resident (all are welcome to attend, and there is a period allowed at the start of the meeting for public participation, when matters of concern may be raised) that the problem is by no means confined to your village.

To my knowledge, there have not been any prosecutions, but they do have that power, although it would have to be a very extreme case for it to be invoked. They do, however, monitor the situation when it is brought to their attention, and will take less Draconian action, such as sending a letter to the person concerned if they can be identified, if necessary.

Another difficulty lies in identifying and, if necessary, proving, what constitutes 'household' waste. For example, an empty washing up liquid bottle, especially if included as part of a larger quantity of waste, would almost certainly be considered as such, while a soft drinks bottle of similar capacity may very well not be. It does also seem a little unwise in an age when identity theft is rife to dispose of personal papers in such a way. (We make a point of putting ours in the shredder and then recycling for that very reason!)

As I say, a degree of common sense is needed and most PCs that I know of are reluctant in the extreme to enter such a minefield. Your neighbour might be a little more thoughtful and considerate of others when disposing of his waste in future, and the PC is only looking after your interests as a Council Tax paying (from which their precept is paid) resident.

Your PCs actions do seem to be a bit of an overreaction, but then I don't know the full circumstances or the extent of the problem. Our own PC seems to spend much more time and energy, in conjunction with the police, on drug dealing and fly tipping in secluded places, than it does on waste bin infringement, rightly so in my view. If, like us, you want to live in a pleasant environment, then your PC both needs and deserves your support.

Regards, John.

Hi John,

I was the East Riding County Council that issued the fixed penalty - the local Parish Council I don't think can do that (not in this neck of the woods anyway).

Interested to read your note however, I do take in an interest in the local parish council and they're quite a dedicated bunch that get little to no support and a lot of moaning from the villagers and the county council - hence despite their efforts other than renewing the planters and painting the swing in the park every year, little gets done, which is a missed opportunity.

[Kev0607]

Originally Posted by Tannaton

Hi John,

I was the East Riding County Council that issued the fixed penalty - the local Parish Council I don't think can do that (not in this neck of the woods anyway).

Interested to read your note however, I do take in an interest in the local parish council and they're quite a dedicated bunch that get little to no support and a lot of moaning from the villagers and the county council - hence despite their efforts other than renewing the planters and painting the swing in the park every year, little gets done, which is a missed opportunity.

So you got fined for carrying the fuel!?

[Tannaton]

Originally Posted by Kev0607

So you got fined for carrying the fuel!?

No, that was about another chap who was fined when he put a bag of rubbish from his car in a public litter bin.

[Forrest]

It looks as though the Government consolidated and simplified the law in 2014. I remember during the fuel protests in 2000 it emerged that as well as the quantity of petrol that you were allowed to store in metal and/or plastic Jerry cans you could store an additional quantity in glass pint bottles under some earlier act of parliament.

Technically you only need a licence to store more than 275 litres or 60 gallons in one place. However, for between 30 and 275 litres it is necessary to give "notice" to the petroleum enforcement authority and have equipment on site to deal with fire and spillage.

Whilst not explicitly stated, I expect in practice you would also require a fairly good reason to keep more than 30 litres on domestic premises once the authorities had been informed.

[Tannaton]

Originally Posted by Forrest

It looks as though the Government consolidated and simplified the law in 2014. I remember during the fuel protests in 2000 it emerged that as well as the quantity of petrol that you were allowed to store in metal and/or plastic Jerry cans you could store an additional quantity in glass pint bottles under some earlier act of parliament.

Technically you only need a licence to store more than 275 litres or 60 gallons in one place. However, for between 30 and 275 litres it is necessary to give "notice" to the petroleum enforcement authority and have equipment on site to deal with fire and spillage.

Whilst not explicitly stated, I expect in practice you would also require a fairly good reason to keep more than 30 litres on domestic premises once the authorities had been informed.

Thank you.

This is where I got to after a lot of reading.

There are three points in play :

How much you can buy at a forecourt - very hard to establish but I think it is petrol - 30 litres in approved containers, diesel as much as you like.

How much you can transport in a private vehicle - that is 270 litres in total (i.e. including the main fuel tank)

And how much you can store at home - 30 litres unregistered.

Not sure if a shipping container in the middle of a field (which is actually used formally as a chemical store for all my herbicides) is classed as home?

Anyhow - I think I know enough to politely explain to a forecourt attendant what i'm doing if it happens again.

Coincidently popped into the same forecourt again recently just to get some beer, there was a chap with a trailer with a triple gang ride on sitting on it filling up a white plastic container with fuel (not sure if petrol or diesel). Not sure if he got some love as well.

[Whippy]

It's coz you were buying petrol, if you'd just picked up a few thousand battery cell you'd of probably got a kiss.