Red diesel

[Jonny77]

I had to give in to the cost of running the Surf daily and bought myself a 106 diesel work hack. So far I have only driven it home from the chap I bought it from. Tonight I was servicing it and changed the fuel filter.....only to discover its full of red diesel!
So what do I do? My neighbour told me of a bloke he works with who got a tax bill of £2k when he was dipped as they backdated the tax back to when the car was bought.
Can I contact HMRC and get them to log it on their system or something so if I get stopped one day I am covered?

[The Lovely Boyo]

If you're concerned about plod, drain the tank and brim it with proper diesel. Clean the new filter as well if you've already put it back on.

I would have thought any trace of red would be gone by your 2nd tank full.

[Jonny77]

Red stains the tank and lines forever, so even using normal diesel afterwards wont get rid of it.

[Sancho]

Yeah, but they only dip it, they don't take the whole fuel system to bits. If you're planning on using normal diesel, it is incredibly unlikely that you'll get dipped anyway.

[da SLUG man]

just drain out fuel (i.e. drive it till it runs out) then replace with white and change the filter.

[Tiger]

If you have a receipt for the car then they can't backdate anything from then providing you have normal diesel from now on i don't see as they can do a lot? Its a second hand car with history

[nero279]

To be safe i'd be tempted just to ring them up explain the situation and ask for the advice straight from the horses mouth as it were, last thing you want is HMRC trying to do you for tax evasion or something.

[MattF]

To be safe i'd be tempted just to ring them up explain the situation and ask for the advice straight from the horses mouth as it were, last thing you want is HMRC trying to do you for tax evasion or something.

I wouldn't, personally. That's just asking for trouble. Far better to just run with it, as Matt suggested. If he does get pulled and dipped at any time, he has this thread and the vehicle documents to back his story up.

[POPEYE]

I aggree with Matt, plus they might go after the bloke you bought it off and give him hassle, then he might come after you and give you it as well
drain it and do the filter, and hope you dont get dipped for a couple of tankfulls, very very unlikely,

[supersurf]

red diesel does not stain as much as people think,
i have just last week dropped a pajero tank for a customer who was caught useing it and i had cleaned the inside of the tank with a can of spray carb cleaner and the white cloth that i had used to wipe the inside of the tank wasnt died red,however it did dye the paper inside the filter,i had to take this car back to be checked by the police,and im glad to say it passed with flying colours,apparently when they dip the tank the probe has crystalls in the end and they can tell due to the dye how diluted the diesel is,
so as long as you drain it all out and refill with white diesel and change the fuel filter you will be fine,

[Jonny77]

Thanks for all the help chaps.
I am not going to persue it further. Like Chris said, I have a receipt for the car, I always have a pile of fuel receipts in the back of the car so if I get dipped I should be ok. I will take a photo of the speedo too showing the mileage and a date that I can produce to prove my mileage if I ever need to.