Posted By Ian Mycroft Our organisation has some jet wash machine that run off a petrol driven generator, for use at remote sites, we need to have a store of 5ltrs of petrol and we have been told that we need a petroleum licence to keep it on site. Is this true even for such small quatities? Also, we have been told that we need the licence for storage of paints, again small quatities for touch ups, etc. Ian

Posted By Lee Bennett Ian, There is a local authority circular on Portable Petrol Containers, briefly, The Petroleum-Spirit (Motor Vehicles etc.) Regulations 1929 exempt certain quantities of petrol kept in metal containers from licensing requirements. The petrol must only be kept for the purposes of refuelling internal combustion engines and must not be for sale. Up to 275 litres of petrol can be kept in any one storage place without a licence. The allowable quantity is reduced when the petrol is kept in or near buildings, or near public thoroughfares or other flammable substances (see below). In calculating the 275 litre limit, the petrol in the fuel tanks of vehicles in the storage area is included in the total. Metal containers must be constructed so as to be reasonably secure against breakage and to prevent leakage of liquid or vapour. They should be marked with the words "petroleum-spirit" and "highly flammable". The maximum container capacity for keeping petrol is 10 litres unless the following conditions are met: a) the storage place is more than 6m from a building, highway or public footpath,and; b) there is spillage retention at the storage place (eg retaining wall, trench), and; c) the licensing authority is given written notice of the storage place before it is used. This does not include petrol in the fuel tank of a vehicle. The full document can be found at; http://www.hse.gov.uk/lau/lacs/65-9.htm Hows life in dee dar land? Lee.