Cif story hits trade
Page 10
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in black market fuel
• by Charles Young
A pallet yard which dealt in black-market diesel has shut down after its illicit practices were exposed by Commercial Motor. And other yards are seeing a downturn in their illegal trade as hauliers ban their drivers from entering the sites.
Soon after our article appeared last month (CM 2-8 March) a sign went up at one yard next to the Fourwentways service station near Cambridge saying it was "closed until further notice".
Hauliers continue to park in the truck park next to the yard but they are no longer able to set the diesel out of their tanks and off-load pallets that don't belong to them. A number of pallets have even been dumped outside the gates of the yard—presumably by drivers disappointed that they could not sell them.
A number of large hackers in the area have banned their drivers from entering the Alconbury truckstop near Cambridge for fear of them selling diesel to the pallet dealer on the site there. The ban also applies to the yard based next to the Enterprise cafe on the 4428 out of Cambridge.
Last month CM exposed the pallet yards dealing in black market diesel that had been
drained from hauliers' tanks. We offered a tank of diesel to a site at Fourwentways, operated by "Bob the Dog" who confirmed he would buy it at £7 for 25 litres. He had an electric pump which he claimed would empty a tank in minutes.
CMalso saw a driver from a major transport company sell the contents of his tank to Bob the Dog.
At a pallet yard next to the Aiconbury truck stop a man known as "Squid" sold us a fivegallon drum for .212.
And at the site next to the Enterprise cafe the dealer confirmed that he would buy fuel at £7 for 25 litres.