furnessvale

There is a new Peugeot car with sliding doors and I have seen a number in the UK. It looks very handy when in a close parking situation eg the supermarket. George ex nb Alton retired

Very similar to the repeat "requests" (accompanied by ever increasing threats) from TV licencing, that I phone them on a national rate number to discuss why I haven't got a TV licence at my old house. I would gladly phone on a freephone number or e mail them but they do not give you that option. George

Don't you mean it is just BW that MISUSE the data protection act? George ex nb Alton retired Not too far out, they are "ships of the desert" after all:-) George ex nb Alton retired

Ah! the dreaded data protection nonsense. As far as I am aware this act prevents an organisation from unlawfully disclosing PERSONAL information it may have on an individual. Can BW, or anyone else, explain what is PERSONAL about the possible location of a lump of steel on our camal network? George ex nb Alton retired

Very true. Given that suppliers are being required to add duty to the price of red when it is being used for propulsion, it would have been just as easy to add the EU minimum figure when calculating. There could have been no loss of duty because of illegal road use, as the product is still red at the end of the day. George ex nb Alton retired

I can well imagine owners of diesel cars/vans keeping vehicle receipts and claiming that it was actually put in jerry cans and then into the boat. Thus they could fill with 100% red from marinas etc. Question. If HMRC take the hump and dip your tank, will they be able to analyse the contents and say if any, or what percentage of, white went into the tank? George ex nb Alton retired

Now I am jealous. I also see from your profile you are a Bedford man, CA. Me too but I have a TA3 Scammell coupling tractor unit. Got to have something in retirement:-) George ex nb Alton retired

Now I understand why only boaters pay for the canals at point of use. Just like on the roads where the motorist pays and everyone else freeloads! George ex nb Alton retired Further to my previous posting, I doubt our coastal brethren will see it that way. George ex nb Alton retired

True, which is why I said "road legal" in my original posting. Incidentally, it doesn't have to be an agricultural vehicle, section 8.1 covers it. One of the reasons I am so annoyed at boaters having to use white (or pay the duty) is the discriminatory use of this tax. Anyone else can use red diesel off road for pleasure puposes without problems. If you fancy blasting round in an old army tank at 2 gallons to the mile belching out black smoke, feel free:-( George ex nb Alton retired

You underestimate customs and excise. They make police powers look like pussycats. Section 7 of the same link refers. George ex nb Alton retired

Being retired, I haven't studied the fine details of the new system but, whilst you are not "fiddling", you seem to be short circuiting the system. The RDCO is meant to submit the duty, not you. You will cause apoplexy in HMRC:-) George ex nb Alton retired

Sorry, many people think as you do but it just isn't true. Provided the link works have a look at section 2.4 http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalW...cument#P40_2616 George ex nb Alton retired

I don't know why he bothered waiting. Assuming the Land Rover is road legal it is an offence to run it on red diesel even OFF the road so he could have just dipped the tank where it stood. George ex nb Alton retired

I agree that some dealers do charge an excessive mark up but I have two questions. Was you heating oil gas oil or kero? Kero is several pence a litre cheaper. What quantity did you purchase? Everything in this world is cheaper in bulk. Remember, your dealer has to buy from the same supplier, at the same price as you and then has to put his mark up on to cover labour, pump and tank etc. Also, on a falling market, once the dealer restocks you should see the price fall. On Alton I used to restock every week so my price used to follow the market quite closely. Mind you, I never had any problem undercutting marina owners, Turners et al excepted. Sometimes it would have been cheaper to cruise to Turners and ask for "5000 litres please". I still don't know where they get their prices from. George ex nb Alton retired.

Technically they are 62ft long but I know that Dane got down the first lock and only just failed at the second. It could be worth a narrowboat of say 66-68ft giving it a go and letting us know:-) George ex nb Alton retired

Britain is an island and as such has small rivers compared to the Rhine, Rhone etc. However, as an island we have our "inland waterways" around the outside edge, so to speak. This IS heavily used, carrying about one fifth of the volume that is road hauled. This is about the same percentage that inland waterways carry on the continent which probably demonstrates that the road/water mix is about right. The same cannot be said about the UK rail/water mix where rail is heavily underutilised for freight. George ex nb Alton retired.

Indeed, horses for courses as they say! Talking narrowboats, I wouldn't like to try and make a boatmans hitch stay on a standard narrowboat stern dolly using 40mm rope! Equally, I wouldn't moor the QEII with 12mm. George ex nb Alton retired

18mm is one hell of a diameter for a mooring rope. I used 16mm on the back end line on a working boat and that was ideal for controlling the boat by hand if you didn't need to tie up. If you want to knot a mooring line 14mm is as much as will turn round the average dolly or T stud. 12mm is better. George ex nb Alton retired.

I do not know of any test cases over the "general duty of care" as it applies to the sale of rebated fuel in general, and of course no such case could yet have arisen with regard to boat sales. I would assume the "reasonable man" test would apply, i.e. to blindly accept a declaration when any reasonable man should have known that the declaration was not practicable would not be a defence in law. I think that if we all act sensibly, HMRC will go away and let us get on with it, BUT I can guarantee that some will be wanting 0/100 declarations without providing any proof to the seller that this is a realistic split. George (ex nb Alton retired)

Not quite true. A RDCO still has a "general duty of care" in relation to the final use of any rebated fuel he sells. Nothing in the new regulations or advice notes absolves this. Having said that, I agree that there is nothing in the new advice stipulating that diesel heating must be present on the vessel. George (ex nb Alton retired)

Most marinas ban coal boats from entering and even try to stop you pulling alongside linear moorings even though you are still on the canal. Of course the coal boat owner can tell the marina owner where to go, but the threat is usually made to the customer that he will loose his mooring if he doesn't buy from the marina at inflated prices! I used to make arrangements with customers to meet them on the towpath just out of sight of the marina and serve them with coal, diesel and pumpout there. George (ex nb Alton, retired)

As a former supplier of red diesel (coal boat Alton) I could forsee the situation where the market would bear a slight increase in the price of heating red to cross subsidise a reduction in the price of propulsion red to maintain sales. In that case the apparent application of duty would be less than 42.69 but it would be 42.69 nevertheless. George

I can't see them selling much. Not only will their base price be so much higher due to the tiny margins enjoyed by road outlets but they will also have to charge 17.5% vat as the product is white. The 5% vat rule only applies to red, be it for heating or propulsion. George

Thanks for the welcome David and Julie and David. So much nicer than the usenet groups where aggro seems all the rage:-) Yes David, you bought 68.3 litres from me at 49.5ppl on 10th August 2006! I still have the records in case HMRC come calling! ALTON is now operated by Brian and Anne-Marie McGuigan from the same moorings on the Peak Forest. I have had to retire with a bad back. George