Customs fires first shot in road red diesel war
By Nick Fone
The government crackdown on red diesel use is under way, it seems.
Two weeks ago a tractor used for salt spreading was pulled over by police near Taunton, Somerset and impounded.
According to Avon and Somerset Constabulary, the operator was breaking the law in a number of ways – a tractor used for non-agricultural tasks should not be run on rebated “red” diesel, should be equipped with a tachograph and the contractor should be in possession of an Operator”s Licence.
Previously unaware of this, Richard Barrow of Barnstaple-based A&B Contractors, the firm that owns the machine, decided to question Customs and Excise on the diesel use issue.
Having offered a gritting service for private car parks, mainly supermarkets, for the last three years, he soon realised that the whole matter hinged on how C&E Notice 75 – Fuel for road vehicles – legislation is interpreted.
“The document states that a gritting machine can only be run on red diesel if …it is constructed or adapted and used, solely for spreading material on roads to deal with frost, ice or snow…”,” quotes Mr Barrow.
“Our gritting rig conformed to these requirements, but it soon became obvious that it wasn”t as clear cut as that.”
A Customs representative visited Mr Barrow and explained that there would be no problem with the tractor using rebated fuel if it was used solely for gritting and had never been used for agricultural tasks.
But, further muddying the waters, the official Customs and Excise position on the subject differs – a gritting machine can run on red diesel as long as gritting equipment is permanently-fitted and the vehicle is used for no other purpose.
excepted
Both specialist gritters and tractors used for agricultural purposes are classified as “excepted vehicles” and, as such, are permitted to run on red diesel.
“A tractor used for gritting fails to meet agricultural exception criteria and thus prejudices its entitlement to use rebated diesel because it is no longer being used solely for agricultural purposes,” a Customs spokesman pointed out.
“It fails the gritter exception because it is not specifically adapted or constructed to grit roads, nor is it used solely for that purpose.”
concession
“The red diesel concession for agricultural tractors and other vehicles is intended to benefit agriculture, not contractors who perform a multitude of tasks and in doing so misuse an excepted vehicle in performing work for which the concession was not intended.”
Consequently, to continue the service Mr Barrow must set aside one tractor for the job. It should not perform any agricultural tasks throughout the year.
“It just doesn”t seem practical – we wanted to increase our winter workload to keep our men busy through the quieter months and to help make our machines pay all year round, rather than just seasonally,” says Mr Barrow.
“Offering a salt spreading service meant that we could do this. But now we must employ a brand new machine for the task and leave it standing idle for the rest of the year.”
He found that the only sensible way around the problem was to hire a new tractor to perform the gritting. He is currently consulting other government agencies to clarify the issues surrounding road tax, operator”s licences and tachographs.