Petrol Cans, legality?

Morthoseth · 15 Jul 2007 at 14:08

Maybe a stupid question here, but is there a legal limit to how much petrol you can have on you either in your car or outside? I'm picking my new car up on tuesday and it will have little to no petrol in it, i was considering taking 5 or 10 litres of petrol with me, is this legal?

Luke15 · 15 Jul 2007 at 14:10

Perfectly legal.

PardonTheWait · 15 Jul 2007 at 14:17

Only thing I've run into is we've occasionally been told we can only fill up x amount of 5 litre jerry cans each. That was when filling up, between us, probably about 8 5 litre jerry cans. I think it was company policy as opposed to law though.

Two jerry cans won't present a problem at all.

loltim · 15 Jul 2007 at 14:17

Legal but a tad dangerous

Glaucus · 15 Jul 2007 at 14:21

legal but has to be in proper petrol containers..

ThomP · 15 Jul 2007 at 14:31

I fill up two 20L metal cans and its' always been fine from Shell Optimax. I like those cantainers than the small plastic kinds.

james.miller · 15 Jul 2007 at 14:33

i dont know if there is a legal limit as long as its in the proper containers, certainly it hasnt been mentioned to me at work. i know there a limit to how much you can store at home, im not sure what it is though

divuk83 · 15 Jul 2007 at 14:47

15 litres is the most at some garages (they claimed it was the law). We filled 3 5 litre cans up for the 3 bikes we had in the back of the van then they turned the pumps off and refused to sell us any more.

Dave

Tesla · 15 Jul 2007 at 15:02

Legal unless you drive into an airport.

DRZ · 15 Jul 2007 at 18:20

Two 10L metal storage containers or two 5L plastic storage containers is the legal maximum prescribed by the Petroleum Spirit (Plastic Containers) Act 1982 and the Petroleum Spirit (Motor Vehicles) Act 1929, unless you have a license.

To store even that little without a license you cannot store it in a house or in a garage attached to a house or in any structure adjacent to any building where people live. The law goes further than that too, but most people simply don't give a damn about even the basics of the law (as evident in this thread!).

InvaderGIR · 15 Jul 2007 at 18:28

What about a building 500yards diagonally from the corner of your house?

And that's a completely pants law...solong as it's not in plastic containters it should be fine up to like 50liters...I mean that's only 5 of the big metal cans, which isn't much.

It's different for diesel though, but then it's not as dangerous as petrol.

InvG

SoliD · 15 Jul 2007 at 18:30

Ye 2 x 10l metal ones, we used to do this when we owned a boat as the petrol at harbours is ridiculously expensive.

laissez-faire · 15 Jul 2007 at 18:39

SoliD said:
Ye 2 x 10l metal ones, we used to do this when we owned a boat as the petrol at harbours is ridiculously expensive.

Never really understood why marine diesel was exempt from duty and costs about 50p a litre (I remember when it was 20p a litre) yet petrol seems to be about £1.30 to £1.50 depending on where you go!

When I worked at a petrol station we were told people could fill up as much as they wanted as long as it was going in to proper containers.

rG-tom · 15 Jul 2007 at 18:59

how strange, you can only have 20l in metal containers, but you can legally have 60+ litres in another metal container under the back seat of your car

What differentiates between a fuel tank and a container? Does said law still apply if you were to rip a fuel tank of a car and go and fill that up?

DRZ · 15 Jul 2007 at 19:07

rG-tom said:
how strange, you can only have 20l in metal containers, but you can legally have 60+ litres in another metal container under the back seat of your car

What differentiates between a fuel tank and a container? Does said law still apply if you were to rip a fuel tank of a car and go and fill that up?

Its all laid out in the Petroleum Spirit (Motor Vehicles) Act 1929. Been a while since I looked at it (since all the fuel protests etc actually) but its fairly comprehensive in that both acts lay down an absolute standard that must be adhered to, rather than leaving it open to interpretation.

A fuel tank filled whilst outside a car would be illegal, but there is nothing to stop you having a pile of cars with tanks filled to the brim, unless the total capacity exceeds 275L or you employ someone in any capacity on that property or they are anywhere where anyone at all is employed or carries out any duties there for free as part of something like a society or similar.

Once you start getting into all of this, there is an act regarding oil pollution (IIRC its the Environmental Health (Oil Pollution) Act, but I couldnt be sure) which sets all kinds of further restrictions on storage.

BigglesPiP · 15 Jul 2007 at 20:17

I use a Paddy Hopkirk brand 5l steel can, it's the size of a 10l can but full of a sort of metal mesh. Like a racing tank.

L0rdMike · 15 Jul 2007 at 20:21

rG-tom said:
how strange, you can only have 20l in metal containers, but you can legally have 60+ litres in another metal container under the back seat of your car

I cant.

SoliD · 15 Jul 2007 at 20:36

laissez-faire said:
Never really understood why marine diesel was exempt from duty and costs about 50p a litre (I remember when it was 20p a litre) yet petrol seems to be about £1.30 to £1.50 depending on where you go!

indeed i dont know where they find the extra 20p + per litre either, not as if its any harder storing it.

Was so much easier when got the diesel, just didnt matter where you filled it up at the most expensive marina was still dirt cheap. I believe it was even cheaper up until about 10 yrs ago but then they upped the cost of it.