Red diesel - also known as rebated diesel - a form of fuel used in certain industries, is about to have the rules surrounding its use changed.
Red diesel is a standard form of fuel that gets blended with red dye to help mark it out from regular white diesel and the rule change is set to affect many business owners as a result.
Its use is heavily regulated and users must sign an RDCO when they buy it - red diesel has a lower tax duty, with users paying 11.14 pence per litre compared to the fuel duty rate of 57.95p per litre for regular diesel.
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From April 1, red diesel will no longer be available for non-road mobile machineries such as diggers and cranes.
Other equipment such as generators will also be banned from using it.
While red diesel is not being scrapped entirely, the ways it can be used are due to be restricted in the interest of the environment.
This means many drivers will need to use regular diesel instead of red diesel - while this may mean an increase in price, a variety of options including renewable diesel alternatives like Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) or taking the leap to electrify or decarbonise operations are also on the table.
Some businesses have called on the government to halt plans to ban red diesel, citing fears of increased operating costs.
The Road Haulage Association’s Rod McKenzie said the “red diesel hike tax is damaging to [hauliers’] business”.
