From 1st April 2022 ‘red’ diesel, used for ‘off-road’ applications, will only be permitted for agricultural use, rail transport and non-commercial heating. All other applications, such as site-based mobile plant and commercial heating, will be required to use ‘white’ diesel, which carries the full road tax value for use on regular national roads. The purpose is to help with the Government’s drive towards net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

The use of white diesel for mobile plant and equipment in a number of industrial and commercial sectors such as construction, quarrying, landfill and waste recycling is likely to result in many millions of pounds of extra cost. The knock-on effect will almost certainly be higher costs to build schools, hospitals, housing, industrial and commercial premises. It will also affect the selling price of materials and products to industry and the general public due to increased transportation costs across the supply chain.

Increased diesel theft

For the reasons above, the issue of white diesel theft has come onto the radar.

Now that we are in April, the more likely it is that unguarded and unsecured diesel will be targeted by thieves. Poorly guarded construction sites, industrial and commercial premises are easy pickings, as are hotels, sports clubs and similar premises in rural areas. Remotely located businesses often store diesel fuel in bulk – for heating, emergency generators or for ride-on machinery – and often have little security.

If this is you, then it’s time to think about your security measures as well as how you transition from red to white diesel without falling foul of the 1st April compliance date. The following actions are recommended:

• Consider how you can stop intruders getting easy access to the fuel you store. Install stronger fencing and gates to protect the fuel tanks; also, fit stronger padlocks on access gates, the fuel tank lids and fuel dispensing pumps.
• Fit wired or Wi-Fi camera systems with motion detection activation to cover your fuel tanks and the access routes to them. Set them up to sound alarms and to send an alert to your mobile phone so that you can detect intruders before they get to the fuel tanks and to warn them off.
• Consider using a smart fuel level and usage monitoring system available from several suppliers. These can detect unusual drops in fuel levels – indicating a leak or when fuel thieves are emptying a tank. The system would then raise an alarm at a central monitoring station and send an alert to your mobile phone and email address.
• Run down your red diesel stores so you have none left by 1st April. You might need to be able to evidence that you have no red diesel in your tanks, so make sure the emptied tanks are cleaned thoroughly before refilling them with white diesel, to avoid any contamination of the white diesel that could make it look like you might still have red diesel in the tank.

“We have seen in recent times that diesel thefts have been a common nuisance for farmers, and this is now expected to rise for those in farming and many other trade sectors as criminals see fuel as an increasingly expensive commodity” reports Richard Barry, Account Executive, Sutcliffe & Co Insurance Brokers.

Richard goes on to say, “As well as the cost of the fuel lost, there are associated expenses in damage to vehicles and tanks, as well as any pollution clean-up costs that follow”.

For more information about the increase in white diesel theft please contact the Sutcliffe & Co Team on 01905 21681 or alternatively email Enquiries@sutcliffeinsurance.co.uk.