Wednesday 22 August 2007

We had a bit of a bombshell yesterday after having been told that it was legal in Italy to run from vegetable oil the Italian customs finally informed us it is Illegal and we would face a fine of 6500 Euro's if caught.

I suspect this means we will spend more time in Croatia and not go into Italy at all although we may swap to biodiesel for a bit so we can explore Tuscany. Its a real shame as Tuscany was one of the highlights of the trip.

Croatian customs however were more than welcoming and very much encouraged us to come visit them. They were concerned that the oil in Croatia may not be of the standard we are used to but were very interested in what we are doing.

We spoke to customs at Luxemburg and they seemed very confused by the matter. I am not actually sure they believed that the car ran on vegetable oil but the upshot of the matter is that as there is no law about taxing the fuel then there shouldn't be a problem using it. This is of course not definitive but I think its good enough for us.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Bloody Italians more red tape. Have you seen the satalite pictures of Milan and the black cloud that covers it from all the industry. And they love Olive oil maybe you should have told then it ran on olive oil then you would be OK.

How he started drumming on the dash yet ?

Frosty

kenny said...

Running on olive oil would be somewhat costly I think if they don't want us there we will just take our wagon elsewhere :)

Drumming is an issue, I am thinking of padding his fingers.

Anonymous said...

Hi Kenny & Marc:
A colleague passed me some information regarding your trip and I “dropped by” to check out your site.

I work with a hotel, resort and conference venue in Slovakia called AquaCity. AquaCity is Europe’s first carbon neutral holiday resort centre and is heated, powered and lit etc puerly by natural, renewable and sustainable energy sources such as geothermal energy, wind and solar power.

As one of our aims, in seeking to demonstrate that alternative energy sources don’t necessarily mean having to compromise a 21st century life style seem to run in parallel with yours, I wondered if you would like to take a detour and come and enjoy some R&R in our hotel and waterpark complex??

Maybe you could get in touch (or your folks in the UK could) and we could arrange something?? Email me at tshorrock@mrmerlin.com or check out our website at www.aquacityresort.com

To maintain the motoring theme AquaCity are sponsoring Europe’s first carbon neutral car rally next week end – check out the website for more details

ANdy said...

Good luck mate. Who wants to go to Italy anyway!?

Andy

Anonymous said...

hey kenny and marcydoo...good luck on your travels and don't get too hungry...my experience of the veggie beast is that all that cooking oil just makes me think of food!!!! can't wait to read about your travels....

muce said...

Na worry bout Italien - Batty men dem. If you're going south Croatia then lemme know. I've just got back from Tucepi, and it was amazing. I can give you details of a couple of people that will sort you out with fine food and home-made Slivovitza. It's 50% alcohol so may even help run your car:)

Muce