Mr. Gerard Moran:

On the roadside, we can only check documentation and we do that. We cannot take samples on the roadside for health and safety reasons. It is a highly flammable product and there is a huge volume of it in a tanker. Consequently, we take samples at filling stations. To clarify, we take samples of diesel all right, just not of petrol. We certainly take roadside samples of diesel but not of petrol, which is what I had in mind.

May I repeat something I have stated previously? Much of our activity is not about physical sampling. It is about the supply chain and the paper trail right through the supply chain, namely, through the distributors and suppliers down to the forecourts. This therefore is a focus of our activity and is where our current investigations are focusing. It is focusing on participants in that supply chain coming back up from the retailers. We are investigating this intensively at present and that is what we must do. If we want to prosecute somebody, we must establish evidence that will support the prosecution. If we do not do that, we will seek evidence of players in the supply chain who are not complying with the standards or the rules that apply to that sector. Where that happens, one will not get a prosecution. However, if we have a sufficient basis to withdraw a licence from an operator and that will withstand a court challenge, then that is what we will do. We have been aggressive in doing this and have been highly successful in so doing. Suggestions that we have been relaxed or whatever in respect of pursuing fuel fraud in general or in responding to the current problem are unfair.