Fuel: Fueling the Criminals



Posted: Thursday, May 26, 2011

by Laura Brown
OSE European

The illegal fuel trade costs the UK billions, in a report from the BBC over £830 million is lost in tax revenue a year and the problem is on the increase.

The most recent revelation was the story of around 217,000 litres of illegal fuel being  seized by the HR Revenue and customs.

Diesel Fuel was found to contain 5 times the legal limit of sulphur permitted. The diesel had been through a process known as ‘stretching’. This is when fuel is mixed with lower grade products which make it unsuitable for road fuel consumption.

Stretching the product delivers high profiteering for criminals, however the result for the tax payer means higher taxes and dangerous fuel delivery as the substance is highly noxious to both individual and environment.

Stuart Crookshank for HMRC explained, ‘The addition of kerosene would have made the fuel more combustible and prolonged use would undoubtedly damage the engine of any vehicle’

The contaminated fuel was found at a truck stop at Junction 13 on the M1.
This Article has been viewed 63 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
No comments yet.
We want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.