PSNI slap fines on fuel-cheats

Northern Ireland haulage companies are facing fines of hundreds of thousands of pounds for using illegal diesel, it was revealed today.

At least two companies currently being investigated could face penalties of more than £250,000 (€360,000), according to a senior customs officer.

The figures were disclosed as customs officers, the PSNI traffic branch and other agencies carried out spot checks on vehicles in the centre of Belfast.

Colm McAllister, head of Customs Detection, said companies caught using red diesel faced heavy financial penalties.

He added that when a commercial vehicle is detected with illegal fuel, officers carry out an audit of the company’s entire fleet.

“In all cases where commercial companies are detected using illegal fuel, we then do a follow-up assessment with the companies themselves for previous illegal fuel use.

“We go through the tachographs and look at the contracts for the years deliveries look at all their vehicle and calculate how many miles per gallon they have used,” he added.

Figures produced by HM Customs and Excise showed that considerable savings could be made by companies using illegal fuel.

A haulage company with a fleet of 10 HGVs could hope to save £177,000 (€255,000) by using red diesel.

Security Minister Jane Kennedy, head of the Organised Crime Task Force, said the multi-agency approach meant that the chances of catching drivers involved in fuel fraud were increasing all the time.

“What we are seeing today is a multi-agency operation to deal with those criminals who are seeking to defraud the public,” she said.

“The checks that they are performing on the vehicles are having a major impact on taking off the road, vehicles that are not roadworthy or indeed being used to either ship the fuel or to use illegal fuel.”

During today’s operation, 500 vehicles were stopped and spoken to. Thirty vehicles were checked for illegal fuel, with two positive results.