Fuel limits

[artyman]

Following the Goverment's advice and not panicking I didn't fill up until today, the garage was not overly busy though some pumps had no Super Unleaded. I topped up the car and then filled two four gallon jerrycans, these are pucka WWII jeep style things. As I was finishing a chap came out and said that their was a limit of 2 gallons per metal container, which seems a bit daft for given that my jerrycans were specifically designed to carry fuel. Not heard of limits on diesel before and can't find any reference to it. He didn't seem overly concerned and just said bear it in mind in the future, just as well as I wouldn't have fancied trying to get the excess back down the hose

 

[Frugal]

I looked into this after watching a recent news report and so far as I can tell, there are separate regulations dpending on whether the container is plastic (Petroleum Spirit (Plastic Containers) Regulations 1982) or, in your case, metal (the Petroleum Spirit (Motor Vehicle etc) Regulations 1929). The long and short is that these regulations limit the quantity of fuel that can be stored in the vehicle, kept in a garage or within six metres of a building. The limit is a maximum of two suitable containers each of a maximum capacity of five litres (plastic) or ten litres (metal). By my reckoning, that equates to roughly 2.2 imperial gallons for plastic and 4.4 for metal. So I guess your local filling station policy is pretty accurate.