photo of LSC boats in Normandy 2011

The Little Ship Club is asking members to write to their MPs and MEPs in protest at HMRC proposals which would prevent UK yachtsmen using reduced duty 'red diesel' in foreign waters. An online petition has also been set up.

Red diesel is the only fuel available for purchase in UK marinas but yachtsmen risk heavy fines if found using the fuel in foreign waters. The Little Ship Club was forced to change the location of a prestigious rally in the summer of 2012 due to the number of UK yachts facing fines of up to £750 in Belgian waters.

Imagine the scenario....you fill your boat's diesel tank with red (duty reduced) diesel, legally, at your local marina and set off for a sail at the beginning of the season. Some months later, you have a cross-Channel trip planned. No need to refill the tank, you've done a few sailing trips, not used the engine, you just need to top up. It's red diesel again, as that's the only fuel available at your UK home port. After a 12 hour trip you arrive in Cherbourg to be fined by the authorities - as much as £750 - because red diesel is not allowed to be used outside UK waters.

The European Commission has challenged the practice of allowing the use of red diesel to propel private pleasure craft. HMRC published a press release on Tuesday 21 February 2012 stating that all yachtsmen will need to sign a declaration when purchasing fuel to the effect that it will only be used in UK waters. If they travel outside UK waters they will be subject to the restrictions and prohibitions of other EU member states.

LSC Commodore David Roache says, "This is farcical. To ask the skipper of a UK registered yacht to declare that the red diesel he is putting in his tank would not be used in foreign waters is ridiculous."

In a letter to his MEPs and MP, David gives the following reasons for the current proposals being unworkable:

"I fill the tank on my yacht probably only once in a season (I rely largely on the wind to propel my boat), this means that the diesel I put in the tank in, say, July is likely to still be there in June of the following year when I may well be making a passage to France or Belgium.

"It is almost impossible to buy un-dyed diesel at any marina in the UK, this means that yachts have to fill with dyed diesel, they have no option. This means that UK yachts will now not be able to sail outside UK waters.

"My understanding of the derogation that was given to leisure users in the UK, whereby they could use dyed diesel so long as they paid duty in proportion to the volume of diesel that was to be used for propulsion as opposed to cooking or heating, was agreed by the European Parliament. If so, why are we now backing down in face of (largely) the Belgians, a nation with a 45-mile long coastline and rather fewer leisure yachts than are moored in Hampshire. If it is legal why should we not continue to use dyed diesel?

"The sort of declaration that HMRC are expecting UK skippers to give is wholly impractical and unjustified. If HMRC had talked to any yachtsman or, indeed, the RYA (Royal Yachting Association), they would have realised this. Either they did talk to them and ignored them or they did not talk to them - either way they have served the UK citizen quietly going about his leisure activity very poorly."

The proposals will come into force on 1 April 2012 unless yachtsmen challenge them.

What you can do

1. Write to your MP, it's easy if you use WriteToThem. Just enter your postcode and follow the instructions. It's best to use your own words, but the key points are:

  • the HMRC proposals are unworkable as red diesel is the only fuel available at UK marinas
  • UK yachtsmen should not have to declare legally purchased red diesel will only be used in UK waters
  • the UK government should be challenging the European Parliament which gave a derogation to UK pleasure craft users to allow the use of red diesel for propulsion of their craft.

2. Sign the online petition to get HMRC to think again about this unworkable proposal.

3. Read the proposals on HMRC website.

4. Email your comments to envirotax.bst no later than 11 March 2012.

 

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