Get a sample contract with the company number/address on (assuming its Limited) and we can have a dig

waiting for a response from a contact in HM Revenue office


and counting out £100 in used notes

Second thoughts... Go into the petrol station and ask to see their Employers liability insurance certificate.

ohhh i really hope this isnt a big scam, hurry up and find out stan!

D'oh!

Well I registered - 28 days count down to cheap fuel OR NOT as it maybe. Worth a gamble I thought!

I asked a few questions before registering -

Is fuel marked (dyed)? - No, purchased in another EC country and brought here.

Is membership limited to a specific number of people - Yes, 800,000.

As my vehicle is a member of a research and development project does it need to be used to test devices? - No.

I received a receipt and have been told that a certificate will be issued to me printed with vehicle registration and model and the date that I can begin purchasing fuel. They are a member only station so only registered vehicles will be served, a camera notes your reg. plate as you enter.

We will see - I will keep you posted!

I hope the fuel meets the normal BS EN228 for premium unleaded gasoline 95 RON, hope it's not for example regular unleaded 91 RON or doesn't contain excessive volumes of ethanol (bio-gasoline)

This reminds of whatshisname and the stupid fuel card of his, pipeline or whatever its called, they promise so much, yet deliver so little

I hope you paid with a credit card

Bioethanol VERY GOOD for your car if you have it mapped for it and make more power as well!

Does the receipt show a Ltd company number, VAT number, or Full company name? That way further investigations could be made.

No chance - Live dangerously you sceptics!

It is obviously a new venture tring to use a loophole. Local gossip is that the guy was in the Royal Engineers developing a retro fit fuel saving device but could get no backing. Obviously motor and fuel companies are not interested - This plan was therefore hatched to fund development. They are non-profit making, should they be a Ltd company? will VAT be applicable?

We will see - It is only 100 notes!

spoken like someone with too much money that they can afford to give it away.most people dont liek the idea of handing £100 out and not getting anything for it,its not sceptical its common sense ;)shame you obviously got more money that sense

No I haven't - But I stand no chance of making the saving unles the £100 is stumped up!

We will see - IF I can fill for £17.50 (rather than £43) then the savings will come quick!

Remember, if it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is.

Well, I salute you Dougie! I hope it turns out to be bona fide.

Me too, will be sweet if it all checks out, im just a little skeptical about the "waiting period".

Limited to 800,000 at £100 each - ooh 80 million quid, lovely!

Would want to know what the contract said and would be very wary - bearing in mind that if the contract is illegal (eg. as part of a deemed tax fraud) I may not have any legal remedy if they don't honour it.

It is bound to be a limited company, in order to try and avoid any possible personal liability for the directors.

I like the sound of this and the free movement of goods and services thing is new enough (signed Dec. 2006) that a loop-hole may exist.

However, I'd have some questions:

1. Why have a not-for-profit status? If what they're doing is legal and legit then why not make a profit?

2. Why charge for membership?

3. Why limit the membership to 800,000 people?

4. Why put a limit on how much fuel people can buy?

5. Why make people wait 28 days after paying?

My thoughts are that this must fall into 1 of the following camps (in order of how likely I think each is):

1. It's a scam and you'll get nothing for your £100.

2. It's a genuine attempt to deliver cheap petrol and fund some pie-in-the-sky retro-fit fuel economy improver, but the founder hasn't quite got to grips with either European law or the basics of engineering and the whole thing will die a death.

3. It's genuine and legal and the government will plug the loop hole extemely quickly. Possibly before you've got your £100 back.

4. It's genuine and legal and plugging the loop-hole will either be outright impossible or will take a very long time, in which case these things will spring up all over the place, with the big oil companies getting in on the act. The government will accept this and collect the money that it currently gets from fuel tax some other way. This will leave us all with cheaper petrol, but a cost of living that is roughly the same.

they are planning on doing this anyway by cutting fuel duty and going with road pricing

Doesn't matter if the directors make it a limited company to try to avoid any liability. There is complex law about liability of directors/company officers in the event of fradulent/reckless trading where they can be deemed personally liable.

We go after Directors of failed companies regularly on these grounds. Often its sweet to see a guy who laughed and said 'F*uck off..sue the company etc' in court and facing unlimited personal liability.

Absolutely skodaman, I'm dealing with one of them at the moment. Being limited is no guarantee of avoiding personal liability, but it makes sense if you want to "try and avoid" the personal liability.

The only way I could see this working is some form of 'private members club' where one of the membership benefits is fuel at below market cost. However there are commercial regulations (mostly to do with supermarkets etc) about 'below cost selling / dumping' If this was legal I could see Tesco offering fuel at 10p/L as it would be subsidised from other products, however its not legal.

Being suspicious I'd say this is a version of a pyramid scam which requires a constant supply of new members paying in their fee to fund the fuel subsidy..though I can't see any benefit in this one to the scammer...unless of course they are selling illegal fuel..ie smuggled without duty paid?

Be an idea to run this one past trading standards?

If a large company had a fleet of vehicles then there would be nothing stopping them doing the same as the above, or does this scheme only work becuase they are doing research ?

You do it by buying fuel 'futures.' Doing a deal in advance with a fuel company and paying a fixed rate for fuel for say 6 months. If the price goes up you win if it goes down you lose. The benefit being a guaranteed price for budget purposes..standard legal business practise for futures markets / hedge funds: Done all the time.

If the fuel is coming in from abroad the question of duty raises itself..there has alway been a brisk fuel smuggling business from the Irish Republic in Northern Ireland for example because of the different duty rate.

1. No profit allowed to be made by the association - To comply with EU directives and Regulations.
2. This is how they are funding research.
3. Membership limited to 800,000 VEHICLES not people - I assume this is part of regulatory control. You can register all the vehicles you own/drive.
4. I think the limit is to stop people taking the p*ss - This is for the motorist not companies.
5. I understand vehicle is registered as part of research and development project - a copy of the V5 is required so must be an administration process.

Have you signed up for it dougie?
Where is the garage?

Ross

Yeah.
Tullibody, Alloa.

You have given them a copy of your V5 as well!!
Seriously, I am quite concerned now, I am quite sure you will not get any petrol for your money. But on top of that there could be a cloned version of your car driving around as well in a few months with the correct vin number.

Oh yeah, someone really wants to clone a 166 - They are hardly sought after motors and not of great value. They accept any car so not looking to clone expensive cars that are easy to shift. Anyway if someone wanted the details they could get it without V5 - From MOT (Fccuk, I am not showing that at the Post Office again!!) which is available online also.