"Andy C" wrote in message ...
hi there,
this probably seems like a silly question but what is the legal position on
plastic fuel cans ?
i have a 20ltr quicksilver purpose built plastic removeable fuel tank (2 of
them actually) for my outboard, but the jobsworths at the local station
don't let me fill it up because legally petrol can only be stored in max
5ltr cans (no more than 2 of them!) when they are plastic
i looked on the trading standards site and it seems to confirm this -
is this true ? there must be thousands of these 20ltr tanks in the UK, are
they really all illegal?
thanks,
andy


As I understand it, the regulations concern the dispensing of petrol,
not its storage. It may be dispensed into containers of max 5 litres
(plastic) or 10 litres (metal), suitably marked. There are also
regulations on storage at home, but these don't apply to fuel in
vehicle tanks, so I assume they won't apply to your boat tanks either.
Legally, all you can do is buy the fuel in quantities of 5 (or 10)
litres and transfer to the boat tank. In practice, I use 20 litre
metal jerry cans. I have a big 4x4, and always fill the cans up on
the other side of the car. No-one sees, no-one minds. Never had a
problem. Use a different station for a while, and fill up at the same
time as you fill the car.

IANAL, etc.

Ixion