Fuel Company Fined €5000 for selling washed Diesel in Limerick

MarkR

A fuel company has been fined 5,000 euro for selling washed diesel to unsuspecting motorists in Limerick.
NR Filling Station Limited had pleaded not guilty to the charge at St Anne's, Pennywell on the Dublin Road on the 12th of July 2011.
The station, which traded under various names closed down shortly after the inspection.

From http://www.live95fm.ie/news/fuel-company-fined-5-000-euro-for-selling-washed-diesel-in-limerick/18139

Is that the place next to MTS, the one that was Limerick City Diesel or somthing like that?

phog

Why do the state have to wait so long to have businesses like this closed down.

They seemed to open without planning permission, sell dodgy fuel yet operated out of that yard for weeks if not months.

finbarrk

Good. A pity €5,000 was the maximum penalty the judge could impose.

phog

finbarrk wrote: »

Good. A pity €5,000 was the maximum penalty the judge could impose.

If they kept the taxes/VAT from each litre of fuel solid then that fine is pittance compared to what they could have taken in.

dr.fuzzenstein

Flocking Heck, I filled up there once or twice, but felt a bit uneasy about the place. The thing is, this would put me off any independently owned petrol station, as I would have no way of verifying where the fuel comes from.
Big, branded chains is the only way to go for me from now on.
And when you consider the type of scumbags behind such an operation, it doesn't bear thinking about...

As above, the fine is an absolute joke, is the state serious about combating fuel smuggling?
Do they think it's a bit of a laugh?

893bet

I think it was obvious that they were selling hooky diesel. Its fairly common knowledge that the margin on petrol/diesel is fairly low and the shop makes the same profit on a 50euro fill up as they do on the single coffee you might buy. Given that place had no shop to subside the fuel and the fuel was selling way cheaper than anyone else then it was always gonna be dodge.

What about all the people that were dipped during those months and has gotten fuel unknowingly there? Were all of these let away with out charge? I assume so?

Greenmachine

893bet wrote: »

I think it was obvious that they were selling hooky diesel. Its fairly common knowledge that the margin on petrol/diesel is fairly low and the shop makes the same profit on a 50euro fill up as they do on the single coffee you might buy. Given that place had no shop to subside the fuel and the fuel was selling way cheaper than anyone else then it was always gonna be dodge.

What about all the people that were dipped during those months and has gotten fuel unknowingly there? Were all of these let away with out charge? I assume so?

One would hope maybe that's how they built their case.
If half the diesel cars at a checkpoint had dodgy diesel and they all mentioned a particular garage would not be too hard to build a case I would imagine.

893bet

Greenmachine wrote: »

One would hope maybe that's how they built their case.
If half the diesel cars at a checkpoint had dodgy diesel and they all mentioned a particular garage would not be too hard to build a case I would imagine.

I would hope so. If I am not mistaken though traces of illegal diesel can remain for a few months though so could have lead to motorist being caught and not even recall all the places they got fuel.

They were in operation for a few months. Justice moves slowly.

5000 fine and a fortune made lol.

dr.fuzzenstein

893bet wrote: »

I would hope so. If I am not mistaken though traces of illegal diesel can remain for a few months though so could have lead to motorist being caught and not even recall all the places they got fuel.

They were in operation for a few months. Justice moves slowly.

5000 fine and a fortune made lol.

Lol indeed.
And the unwitting motorist could be landed with a €2k fine if caught. So the state has decided they can't be arsed fighting the smugglers and it makes all the sense in the world, a weak and practically defenseless state like Ireland could try and take on violent scumbags and terrorists and actually loose. The last thing the Irish government can afford now is to be shown up by a bunch of thugs.
So they do what they always do, prosecute defenseless people who may be the unwitting victims of a crime.
On reflection, I'll open my own petrol station, come down, I got some cheap diesel...

Brennans Row

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

Big, branded chains is the only way to go for me from now on.

I would think so too, but the former operator of the Emo service station on Clare Street got two years jail for distributing laundered diesel (Limerick Leader).

Markcheese

Who do they fine, the company probably doesn't have any assets... And the owners/directors will probably claim similar , so would a 50,000 euro finem ake any difference ?
But I agree 5000 euros seems laughably small... !!
Revenue must have an idea where artic loads of green diesel go ? A small farm with a Massey 35 and 5 cows going through an artic of fuel a week ??