James Ashley Gibbons and Richard Lee Gibbons v Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs

Facts

The appellants were James Ashley Gibbons ("JG") and his son Richard Lee Gibbons ("LG"), both self-employed lorry and truck drivers working in and near Newport, Wales, who lived at the family home and ran their businesses separately from there or from their vehicles. In October 2004 officers of the Road Fuel Testing Unit tested JG's vehicle M2 SPH on 13 October and found rebated diesel ("red diesel") in its tanks; LG's vehicle N3 LEX was tested the following day and his vehicle L840 RLG on 20 October, red diesel being found in each. All three vehicles were seized, and the two vehicles registered to LG were found to have secondary fuel tanks. Both appellants were asked to produce fuel and vehicle records and attended voluntary interviews under caution at Newport Central Police Station on 25 October 2004, at which each said that documents had been posted to Officer Fenton; the package was never delivered. After inconclusive correspondence HMRC assessed each appellant under the Hydrocarbon Oil Duties Act 1979 over a three-year period on the assumption that all fuel used was rebated unless receipts for taxed fuel were produced: £46,171.05 against JG for M2 SPH, and £35,057.84 and £610.31 against LG for L840 RLG and N3 LEX. Both appealed, disputing not the principle of assessment but its method and quantum.