Possible Green Diesel in Petrol Station

PaulKK

Hi everyone,

On my way home today I stopped to get some diesel in a petrol station in north Kilkenny. My car is a common rail diesel and I try and put decent stuff into it, so I called to a well known brand name garage.

For some reason when I picked up the pump handle I decided to tip the nozzle (without squeezing it) and some diesel dribbled out. Nothing new there you might say, but what I saw appeared to be green! I tilted the nozzle again and checked it for sure the second time and I am 99% certain the diesel was green.


So naturally I replaced the nozzle on the pump without filling up and went in to the shop. I informed the assistant(middle aged lady) that the diesel appeared to me to be green and that I didn't take any of it. She asked what did I want her to do about it.

I have heard of this happening to my neighbour in a well know garage in Dublin, but he had unfortunately filled his jeep first before he noticed.

So just a warning to all you driving oil burners out there to be careful. I'm seriously considering reporting this place. On top of this they were charging 118.9 a litre!

Edit: I should add to this that I have experience with green diesel for agricultural use so am pretty familiar with what it looks like.

SV

Was it kind of a tint or very strong?
Diesel isn't completely clear

PaulKK

It wasn't very strong but it was quite obvious if you know what I mean..

Obviously I had just the bit that was in the nozzle to check but it was very apparently green.

GTE

Just to be clear, service stations can have green diesel pumps for the agri business locally but it seems like you were parked at a regular diesel pump so that is very odd. The price you noticed was on the pump and not the main sign? If so report them.

mcshape

you would need to be sure before u report them, go down and buy a litre in a jerry can!

alfa beta

Are petrol forecourts checked for this sort of thing?? I assume that there is some authority set up to go round and randomly check what's in their tanks - some customs and excise mystery shoppers as it were.

It's a bit worrying to think that you could be putting something completely illegal into your tank and letting yourself open to being caught - not to mention the fact that you're being completely ripped off too!

mickdw

I would have had to take a can of that away with me tbh for inspection while saying nothing. I doubt any seller would be freely selling green diesel like that to motorists

MojoMaker

Not to mention the fact that diesel itself is green. How odd. Did it smell different lol? :rolleyes:

GTE

alfa beta wrote: »

Are petrol forecourts checked for this sort of thing?? I assume that there is some authority set up to go round and randomly check what's in their tanks - some customs and excise mystery shoppers as it were.

Yes, as well as checks that the pump is delivering exactly what it should so its not delivering too much or little fuel.

My place was tested recently enough. I dont know how regular the checks are though.

PaulKK

bbk wrote: »

Just to be clear, service stations can have green diesel pumps for the agri business locally but it seems like you were parked at a regular diesel pump so that is very odd. The price you noticed was on the pump and not the main sign? If so report them.

There isn't an agri diesel pump there, just road diesel, and there is only one diesel pump too, 2 petrol pumps, so 100% certain it was a road diesel pump at 118.9c a litre.

mcshape wrote: »

you would need to be sure before u report them, go down and buy a litre in a jerry can!

Yea i was looking around for something to put some in but I was getting terrible looks out the window from the sales assistant.

PaulKK

mickdw wrote: »

I would have had to take a can of that away with me tbh for inspection while saying nothing. I doubt any seller would be freely selling green diesel like that to motorists

Well I didn't have a can so what could I do? I went in to say it looked green so I didn't take any.. I didnt want to drive off after apparently lifting the nozzle and replacing it a couple mins later!

As I said above I heard of it happening before also to my neighbour in a different place so I am pretty certain this does happen in places!

Bandara

Derv quite often looks green when you dispense it, I've no idea why but its quite common for people to come in and ask if they got green derv by mistake.

Its insanely unlikely that anyone would ever knowingly sell it. First off they would be sussed by revenue immediately.

The operator, the station brand and the distributor would all be slaughtered if they were caught, its just not worth it.

and the fact its a well known brand makes me certain it was not green derv.

Go back and buy a can of it, they'll have between 8-40k tanks so it'll still be there.

Hagar

PaulKK wrote: »

Well I didn't have a can so what could I do? I went in to say it looked green so I didn't take any.. I didnt want to drive off after apparently lifting the nozzle and replacing it a couple mins later!

As I said above I heard of it happening before also to my neighbour in a different place so I am pretty certain this does happen in places!

Walk away, briskly.
Take a guess who is alleged to run the green diesel scams in Ireland?
Do you really want to be involved?

North Cork

What i would say is that they may have got the delivery of diesel from a heating oil crowd. Now the delivery previous to that may have been marked gas oil ie green and the driver never changed over the hose that is to clean the agri diesel out before delivering the white diesel, there is always 100 to 150 litres of product left in the hose after delivering, that is why it is vital to change over your hose if delivering another product. This is only my 2 cents on the subject.

Bandara

North Cork wrote: »

What i would say is that they may have got the delivery of diesel from a heating oil crowd. Now the delivery previous to that may have been marked gas oil ie green and the driver never changed over the hose that is to clean the agri diesel out before delivering the white diesel, there is always 100 to 150 litres of product left in the hose after delivering, that is why it is vital to change over your hose if delivering another product. This is only my 2 cents on the subject.

even if they didn't clear the lines your talking about 100 litres (i'd argue more like 50 litres) being diluted into a pot of derv which is about 7,000

thats 1/140, its not going to show up to the naked eye

-Corkie-

I always filled in the same place one time it wasnt a franchise place like the op is talking about, but they were caught selling laundered diesel which is a way worse. It cost me a diesel pump after a while. I did get the price of the pump back indirectly if you know what i mean;)

GTE

Hammertime wrote: »

even if they didn't clear the lines your talking about 100 litres (i'd argue more like 50 litres) being diluted into a pot of derv which is about 7,000

thats 1/140, its not going to show up to the naked eye

When he says its left in the hose does he mean the pipe from the tank to the pump nozzle? If so then that wouldnt get diluted with the latest delivery. It would mean though that the newly delivered product is even less contaminated with the older product.

PaulKK

Ok, I filled up in Esso in Kilkenny tonight, doing the same as I did earlier, i.e allowing the stuff left in the nozzle to run out.

The colour was completely different, it looked completely clear to me anyway, and the area was very well lit.


I'm willing to give the other garage the benefit of the doubt but the colour was definitely very different between both places.

Esel

Hagar wrote: »

I'm back!

FYP. Welcome back!

746watts

alfa beta wrote: »

Are petrol forecourts checked for this sort of thing?? I assume that there is some authority set up to go round and randomly check what's in their tanks - some customs and excise mystery shoppers as it were.

It's a bit worrying to think that you could be putting something completely illegal into your tank and letting yourself open to being caught - not to mention the fact that you're being completely ripped off too!

T'was on the TV last year, customs took samples from forecourts and 102 of them out of (can't remember the total number of stations visited) had a very high sulphur content consistent with laundered agri diesel. The TV program was investigating organised crime diesel laundering operations around the border. So basically there's a good chance a portion of diesel we all buy, innocently, has agri levels of sulphur plus a % of sulphuric acid (used by the boyz to remove agri dye).
I wouldn't be surprised with what OP found.

GTE

Just to add to the post I made earlier about the local station being tested.

It was tested only last week and it was the second test in 11 months.

stapeler

A friend got bad diesel a 4/5 weeks ago back down in Laois. Car was very sluggish and trouble starting it. When they dropped it up to their local garage the mechanic had several cars with the same problem, and a couple with failed fuel pumps. It was discovered that they all had got their diesel from the same garage. As a test the mechanic filled a glass with this diesel. A while later it had turned to jelly...obviously badly laundered diesel. Needless to say the petrol station was immediately reported.

JHMEG

Hagar wrote: »

Walk away, briskly.
Take a guess who is alleged to run the green diesel scams in Ireland?
Do you really want to be involved?

Yeah, but they do a good job. No green left.

746watts

JHMEG wrote: »

Yeah, but they do a good job. No green left.

Not really, high sulphur content and traces of sulphuric acid.......... bye bye injectors & cat.