Since 2008 private pleasure craft in the UK have been allowed to continue to use red diesel, provided they paid the appropriate amount of duty. Those dispensing red diesel have had to adhere to new requirements.
The European Union has been challenging Britain's pragmatic solution to marine red diesel and referred the UK to the European Courts of Justice (ECJ). And in October 2018, the court case finally came to an end, with the ECJ finding the UK in breach of EU legislation.
British Marine's stance remains that it is not viable to introduce white diesel for leisure boat use due to several important factors, including it would be uneconomic and impractical to change waterside fuelling locations over to white diesel. It also believes the change would lead to health and safety and environmental impacts. While the UK government has been supportive of this view, the ECJ ruling is likely to change the situation.
British Marine members can receive a more detailed briefing on this topic, download guidance notes and see who in our team to contact regarding red diesel by logging into the site and viewing this page.