Cllrs fuming over petrol stretching racket

Sean McMahon

A lively debate about petrol stretching and dodgy fuel at Monday’s meeting of Cavan County Council revealed that one councillor was aware of 180 engines damaged in his area, another had been personally affected, while the cathaoirleach knew of 16 cars that had been written off in the past fortnight - one of them a 2011 Toyota Avensis.
The local authority is to write to the Minister for Finance and the Revenue Commissioners urging them to give adequate resources to personnel on the ground to tackle this issue. The growing racket, which is causing thousands of euros worth of damage to unsuspecting motorists’ vehicles, was highlighted at this week’s meeting of Cavan County Council in the County Museum in Ballyjamesduff.
In a motion before the council, Fianna Fáil’s Sean Smith explained that it involves mixing kerosene with petrol and is now causing serious grief to many motorists. He said that historically there had been a problem in this region with washed diesel but that this ‘petrol stretching’ was a new phenomenon.
He said the “illicit trade” has cost both the exchequer and genuine traders.
“Over the years I know the Revenue Commissioners have taken additional measures to deal with illegal trading, such as in fuel, but now there is obviously a need to ensure that every possible measure is implemented to deal with petrol stretching,” said Cllr Smith.
Cllr Smith also urged that the council make contact with the Northern Ireland authorities on the issue. “We will not solve this problem until we find where this commodity is emanating from,” he said.
Chairman, Shane P O’Reilly (FF) further proposed that they seek a meeting with the Garda Chief Superintendent for the Cavan Monaghan Division and with the chief operations manager of the Customs and Excise from Bridge End, Donegal.
“I have been told that the loss to the Revenue resulting from this particular carry-on is somewhere between €250-500 million per annum – this is an extraordinary loss to the Exchequer,” said Cllr Smith at the meeting.
Fine Gael’s Paddy O’Reilly, who seconded Cllr Smith’s proposal, said he attended a meeting recently in Oldcastle at which there were approximately 400 people.
“When people stood up and said what had happened to their vehicles, it would bring a tear to a stone - the number of good cars that have literally been destroyed by this petrol stretching exercise that is going on,” said Cllr O’Reilly.
“And while the finger may have been pointed at particular outlets, I think the way this is being handled by the Department and by the Customs and Excise, leaves an awful lot to be desired. There is no point in just closing down a petrol station,” he continued.
“It is the personnel that are supplying this that are not being brought to justice. A lot of the time the people who own these filling stations are being blackened in the wrong, because these products are being brought in and left with them,” said Cllr O’Reilly.

Delivered in cattle lorries
“One of the examples I was told about was that it is being delivered in cattle lorries. The cattle lorry contains a tank and the lorry pulls in over the petrol tanks – the hose is dropped down through the bottom of the lorry and this illegal product is put there,” explained Cllr O’Reilly.
He added that while there appear to be plenty of convictions for green diesel, he had never heard of any for petrol stretching.
“I’m a dairy farmer and when my milk collection person comes to collect my milk, he takes a small sample out of every single litre of milk that goes into the tank. I think this type of situation should be brought into play at our petrol and diesel pumps at filling stations,” added Cllr O’Reilly.
Cllr Paddy Smith advised that if the price appears too good to be true, then it probably is.
“If you drive down the road and see one filling station selling fuel at a certain price and you drive on further and see another one selling fuel 10 cents cheaper and there is only a profit of eight cents a litre, it is not rocket science,” he remarked.

Rebate system
Fianna Fáil’s Clifford Kelly suggested that there should only be one colour of diesel and a rebate system operated for the farming community.
“Customs and Excise should have a routine check on all filling stations every month, if possible,” he remarked.
Cllr Fergal Curtain, himself a victim of dodgy fuel, said that Customs and Excise need to be resourced to tackled the problem. “I filled up my car with diesel last year and by the time half the tank was gone, my engine was gone,” he said.
Cllr Curtin confirmed to The Anglo-Celt following the meeting that it had cost him “a couple of thousand” to rectify the damage caused by the bad fuel.

180 engines hit
Fine Gael’s Winston Bennett gave accounts of some young people who had been stung by illict fuel ruining their car engines; while Sinn Féin’s Noel Connell said that he was aware of 180 engines affected in his area alone. Cllr Connell recommended customs check “every load going down the road”.
The chairman said he was aware of 16 cars that had been written off in the past two weeks. The engine was gone completely in a 2011 Toyota Avensis car.