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Customs officers are often setting up checkpoints in Ireland, the UK, and Australia to check for red diesel and other technical stuff like licenses, the transported load, or if truck drivers respect their driving time limits. These are known as RSA checkpoints, and drivers want to avoid them not because they’re breaking the law but due to the traffic jams they create.
RSA (Road Safety Authority) enforcement officers have the legal authority to check the fuel used by construction and manufacturing trucks, farms, plants, and industrial vehicles because in Ireland and the UK there are exemptions put in place. Diesel these vehicles use is tax and duty-free, so authorities don’t want to see it in other types of cars or trucks. If everyone’s using it, then the Government loses a lot of money.
For starters, the decision to use dye was taken – a red one. This clearly marks the origin of the fuel. It also can help with immediately proving if it was obtained and used legally or otherwise. This is not new for those in Ireland since this rule has been in place for over 60 years! But these fuels can also be found in the UK, Australia, or the U.S.
To further enforce the rules, fines have been put in place. In Ireland is considered tax evasion, so it carries a hefty penalty that has no fixed amount, while in the UK you’ll just be charged for cleaning your vehicle’s tank and changing the filters. As you may have guessed already, this carries a ‘premium’ over normal services done regularly. It can be a good idea to avoid it, if possible. Not to mention that you’re forced to delay whatever you were supposed to do.
And don’t think you can refuse to provide a sample. They “may seize all the fuel and the vehicle,” as the official guidance stipulates.
Moreover, there’s even a hotline for people to report others if they suspect red diesel is being used illegally in the UK.
But with the current gas prices, people have flocked to cheaper alternatives that are not necessarily respecting the law. That’s how red diesel has once again become attractive to other types of drivers, including those that have no agricultural or industrial business. Knowing this might happen, RSA started multiplying their checkpoints. They recently went as far as stopping traffic on a highway for ‘dipping’!
But things took a funny turn when some officers decided to randomly pull a van over to check its tank. This, as the video down below shows, happened in Ireland.
Unfortunately for the clueless RSA officers, they stopped a Renault Master electric van. Maybe they were too tired and didn’t notice the absence of an engine. Here’s the interaction.
For starters, the decision to use dye was taken – a red one. This clearly marks the origin of the fuel. It also can help with immediately proving if it was obtained and used legally or otherwise. This is not new for those in Ireland since this rule has been in place for over 60 years! But these fuels can also be found in the UK, Australia, or the U.S.
To further enforce the rules, fines have been put in place. In Ireland is considered tax evasion, so it carries a hefty penalty that has no fixed amount, while in the UK you’ll just be charged for cleaning your vehicle’s tank and changing the filters. As you may have guessed already, this carries a ‘premium’ over normal services done regularly. It can be a good idea to avoid it, if possible. Not to mention that you’re forced to delay whatever you were supposed to do.
And don’t think you can refuse to provide a sample. They “may seize all the fuel and the vehicle,” as the official guidance stipulates.
Moreover, there’s even a hotline for people to report others if they suspect red diesel is being used illegally in the UK.
But with the current gas prices, people have flocked to cheaper alternatives that are not necessarily respecting the law. That’s how red diesel has once again become attractive to other types of drivers, including those that have no agricultural or industrial business. Knowing this might happen, RSA started multiplying their checkpoints. They recently went as far as stopping traffic on a highway for ‘dipping’!
But things took a funny turn when some officers decided to randomly pull a van over to check its tank. This, as the video down below shows, happened in Ireland.
Unfortunately for the clueless RSA officers, they stopped a Renault Master electric van. Maybe they were too tired and didn’t notice the absence of an engine. Here’s the interaction.
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