Drivers drain their tanks to sell diesel on black market
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CM NNESTNIATION se leading transport companies are being ripped off by drivers who are selling the fuel in their tanks as part of a widespread black market in diesel. Other hauliers benefit from the scam by buying the stolen diesel for as little as £2 a gallon.
Over the past couple of weeks CM has watched three pallet yards in Cambridge. Two of them will readily syphon fuel out of your tank with no questions asked while the third has it on sale alongside cheap and often stolen pallets.
When CM visited the pallet yard located at the side of the Alconbury truck stop, run by a man known only as "Squid''. we asked if we could buy some diesel and were told to come back later.
The yard worker told us: "It's a bit quiet at the moment but we might have some this afternoon. it's £12 for a fivegallon drum." He then added with a smile: "It's a bit better than the pumps."
When we returned a few hours later we were offered a six-gallon drum for £12. A different worker told us it would be all right to come back again when we were next in the area. Ile added that he was about to fill up another truck that had come into the yard.
CM had previously offered a Transit van full of diesel to a pallet dealer, sometimes known as "Bob the Dog", who operates next to the Comfort Cafe at Fourwentways service station, Abington.
The dealer told us he would pay £7 for 25 litres but didn't ask us where the fuel was from. He had a sophisticated electric pump which he boasted would "empty a tank in minutes" as well as a number of drums and a large plastic bunker.
CM has also watched a driver from a large transport company empty at least 10 gallons into the dealer's drums. The dealer is known to use some of the fuel in his truck which he uses to deliver pallets. This truck is parked in the yard and displays an out-of-date tax disc with no Operator's Licence in the windscreen and no number plate at the rear.
The third site CMfound for this diesel black market is next to the Enterprise cafe on the A428 out of Cambridge. Here again the pallet dealer told us he would buy fuel but that his drums were full that day. The price he quoted was also £7 for 25 litres.
• CM is not implying any link between the Comfort Cafe. Fourwentways, or the Enterprise Cafe and the illicit trading of diesel.