Have You Been Stopped at an RSA Checkpoint?

With the ban on red diesel coming into effect in April, some countries have been setting up stop points to check on vehicles that shouldn’t be using it. 

So far, there have been stop checks set up in: 

  • England
  • Ireland
  • Australia

Know of any others? If so, please let us know! 

Why are governments checking vehicles for red diesel?

From April, only vehicles that don’t require road use will be able to use red diesel. That mainly covers sectors such as agriculture, fishing, forestry or horticulture. 

You can check the full list of allowances and changes on the government website, right here.

However, unless you’re living under a rock, it has been impossible to avoid the news about the soaring costs of fuel. Whilst this is a global problem, some countries have feared that motorists will illegally be using red diesel. 

As the government loses out on money in England if this happens, a red dye (hence the term red diesel) has been employed to mark the fuel out. This means you can easily be caught with it if you shouldn’t be using it, especially if you’re stopped at an RSA checkpoint.

What’s the craic?

In Ireland, certain rules for this diesel have been in place since the 1960s. They also use a green dye to identify the fuel. 

Authorities use random checks of fuel (called ‘dipping’) to assess whether the diesel in question is being used, by identifying the colour. The penalties in Ireland are also a lot stricter and harsher than in the UK, so you’re not going to want to be found guilty of this.

Very recently, a video of an Irish van driver in a Renault Master went viral. If you haven’t seen it, let us provide a chuckle amidst the havoc of increasing costs.

This particular Renault Master was a fully electric van, but the driver in question still found himself being pulled over for a fuel check. You can watch the video of the start of the interaction on Facebook, linked right here.

Not the smartest move there from the authorities in charge of the checks, but we appreciate the laugh. 

I’m looking for cheap van insurance

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The Irish Example

Good news for Irish van drivers this week, with the launch of a scheme that we very much hope to see cross the Irish Channel and trickle into the British system.

If you are fortunate enough to be living and working in Ireland, you will no doubt have heard about the new grant scheme that has been launched to support tradespeople in this post-COVID economy.

Yes, over the water, they have launched a new Enterprise Support Grant, which offers tradespeople a grant of us to €1000 per sole trader who do not qualify for other government support. 

Welcomed by tradespeople over, there, the grant is helping take the strain off the nation’s sparkies, plumbers, builders and carpenters who are able to claim the grant to help make their life a little easier in this post-COVD economy. 

What is really great about the grant is that not only can it be used for stocking up on tools and equipment, but the money can also be put towards vehicle running costs, including fuel, servicing, and van insurance too.

As we all know, insuring a van is not cheap. For many tradespeople, it represents a large chunk of expense towards doing and running their business. And while here at CVI, we do our very best to ensure that all van drivers get the best possible deal on their van insurance, irrespective of age, gender or trade, we know that since the economy ground to a halt earlier this year, getting back up and running has been a massive struggle for many. 

We very much welcome this news and hope that our own Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, sees this initiative and takes inspiration from it, and offers a similar scheme to the van drivers of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

After all, with the government desperate to get us all back to work, we can only hope that they don’t forget the role of the British van drivers play in the economy and that they do their bit for those who may have missed out from other initiatives, such as the furlough scheme or self-employment grants. 

Here’s looking at you, Rishi.

Floyd Mayweather has UK Van Insurance

The boxer Floyd Mayweather is currently on a tour of the UK, but he didn’t expect to get his van firebombed by thugs in Birmingham.

Well, that is exactly what happened, where outside of a nightclub one of his TMT branded vans was firebombed which then led to a blaze where firefighters had to be called to the scene.

TMT stands for “The Money Team” if you didn’t know, and is typically a group of people that follow Floyd around.

No doubt they were all enjoying their trip to the UK, and if reports are to be trusted then some of TMT invited a few women from the nightclub back to their van outside and insisted that no boyfriends were allowed.

It appears that some of the boyfriends didn’t like the idea of their women entering the TMT van, and this is when the firebombing took place. Who knows exactly who did this…maybe jealous boyfriends had nothing to do with it? Fortunately, no-one was hurt.

The whole incident got the attention of Floyd Mayweather though, and the next day after moving from Birmingham to Newcastle, the Police decided to give him and the whole of TMT some extra protection.

This leads us to the question…did Floyd Mayweather have UK van insurance? Obviously the guy has made millions from his boxing career, so could easily pay for a new vehicle with the cash in his pocket no doubt, but, it doesn’t matter how rich or famous you are…getting insured is a legal requirement.

Our understanding here at Cheap Van Insurance is that Floyd Mayweather did have the correct insurance for all vehicles that were being used by himself and TMT…they may have even used a comparison website to get the cheapest deal, although those reports are yet to be confirmed.

Many people have probably heard of Floyd Mayweather being mentioned recently in connection with UFC star Conor Mcgregor, with a potential superfight on the table.

If they fight in a boxing ring then Floyd should win quite easily, but it would probably be the biggest PPV of all time, meaning that both guys would make a lot of money.

There are no reports about whether or not Floyd will be meeting with Conor during his tour of the UK, although if he travels to Ireland where Conor lives, then he should be aware he will need to get Irish van insurance to lawfully drive on the roads over there.

Let’s just hope Floyd and TMT get all of their van insurance sorted out, and there are no more incidents while he is here.

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