Selling fuel containers in the UK: the 10 and 20 litre rule
A portable petrol container is capped at 10 litres in plastic and 20 in metal. What follows from that, and the quantity thresholds behind it.
One line in a 2014 statutory instrument decides most of what you can sell into Great Britain for petrol: a portable petrol container may hold no more than 10 litres in plastic and no more than 20 in metal. Northern Ireland has its own petroleum rules, set out in the FAQs.
Quick answer: How big can a petrol can be in the UK?
In Great Britain a petrol can may hold at most 10 litres if plastic or 20 if metal, and must be marked PETROL and HIGHLY FLAMMABLE (Petroleum (Consolidation) Regulations 2014, Schedule 3). At home, up to 30 litres needs no notification; above that you notify the Petroleum Enforcement Authority in writing, and above 275 litres you need a licence.
The container limits
The Petroleum (Consolidation) Regulations 2014 set the rules for storing and dispensing petrol in the UK. For portable containers the limits are specific and they are by material:
| Container material | Maximum nominal capacity for petrol |
|---|---|
| Plastic | 10 litres |
| Metal | 20 litres |
The container must also be suitable and safe for the purpose, and must not significantly degrade through contact with petrol or through ultraviolet exposure. So a UV-stabilised grade matters for a plastic can that will sit outdoors, and a fuel-service interior matters for a metal one.
The size limit comes with a marking requirement, and the factory has to apply it. A suitable container must be marked with the words PETROL and HIGHLY FLAMMABLE, a hazard warning sign, its nominal capacity in litres, and the maker’s name and the date and month of manufacture (Schedule 3, paragraph 1(e)). The mark is printed or embossed on the container, not a line in a datasheet. It is cheap to add at the tooling and marking stage and expensive to retrofit onto stock already in a warehouse. Settle it with the artwork rather than after the first rejected delivery.
The reasoning behind the split between 10 litres of plastic and 20 of metal is fire behaviour rather than permeation or strength. In a fire a plastic container softens, loses containment and releases its contents while a metal one holds for materially longer, so the regulation caps the volume that a plastic container may release. That is also why "suitable and safe for the purpose" sits in the text alongside the numbers: a can that degrades under ultraviolet or against petrol has stopped being suitable regardless of what capacity it was sold at.
A 20-litre plastic jerrican cannot be sold as a UK petrol container, however well it is moulded and whatever it is certified to elsewhere. If you are stocking 20 litres for petrol in the UK, it is metal. If you want plastic, it is 10 litres or less.
How much petrol may be kept, and when you must tell someone
| Quantity kept at domestic or non-workplace premises | What is required |
|---|---|
| Up to 30 litres | No notification |
| Over 30 and up to 275 litres | Written notification to the local Petroleum Enforcement Authority |
| Over 275 litres | A licence issued by the Petroleum Enforcement Authority |
The petrol storage thresholds are why the retail conversation in the UK stops at a small number of cans. A distributor selling a two-can pack is selling inside the no-notification band; one selling a pallet to a domestic customer is not.
The Petroleum Enforcement Authority is the fire and rescue authority in Greater London and the metropolitan counties and the county or unitary council elsewhere, often its trading standards team. The contact and the process are local, and a multi-site operator deals with several. The thresholds quoted are for domestic and other non-workplace premises. A workplace is a different question: one that dispenses petrol needs a Petroleum Storage Certificate from the PEA, and its wider fire and explosion duties run under DSEAR rather than under the storage thresholds.
Put that distinction in front of a trade customer, because it changes who they must talk to. A garden centre selling cans to the public is answering the retail question. A haulage yard filling its own plant from a bulk tank is answering the workplace one, and the answer involves a certificate, a hazardous-area assessment and a set of duties the container specification cannot discharge for them.
Petrol may only be dispensed into a container that is suitable, so a filling station attendant who refuses a 20-litre plastic can is applying the rule. A container sold into the UK that cannot lawfully be filled at a forecourt is unsellable.
Diesel is not petrol
The Regulations are about petrol, which is the volatile, low-flashpoint fuel the thresholds exist to control. Diesel is also a Class 3 flammable liquid for transport, but in packing group III with a flash point of at least 55 °C (EN 590). The Petroleum (Consolidation) Regulations 2014 do not cover it, which is why 20-litre plastic diesel containers are ordinary in the UK while 20-litre plastic petrol containers are not. Label and sell them as separate products, because a buyer who assumes one rule covers both will use the wrong can.
A 20-litre plastic can is a good diesel container and stocking it is legitimate. Keep the two lines distinct on the shelf and in the listing. A single product page mentioning both fuels invites the substitution the size rule exists to prevent.
What UN marking does and does not cover here
UN marking is a dangerous-goods transport approval, granted per design type for production under quality assurance the competent authority accepts. It governs moving fuel, not the domestic storage limits above. A 20-litre plastic jerrican can hold a valid UN 3H1 approval and still be outside the UK petrol container rules, because the two regimes answer different questions. Ask for both when both apply.
The direction of the confusion is always the same, which makes it easy to spot. A supplier offers a UN mark as evidence for a question the UN mark does not answer, usually because it is the most impressive document they hold. Transport approval says a container survived a defined test. It says nothing about whether that container may be sold, filled or stored for a given liquid in a given country, and those are three further questions with three further answers.
Since Brexit: what actually changed for a container
Less than most buyers expect. A jerrican is not a product that carried CE marking, so there is no UKCA question to answer for the can itself. What did split is chemicals regulation: UK REACH now runs alongside EU REACH, so a supplier placing substances or certain articles on both markets registers under both. For a finished steel or HDPE container this rarely bites, but confirm it with your supplier, particularly for coatings and for anything sold as a chemical packaging.
The other change is procedural and it catches distributors: a shipment from the EU is now an import. Customs entries, commodity codes, origin declarations and duty apply to goods that previously moved freely, so a container bought from a European wholesaler carries the same classification and origin work as one bought from Asia. Our classification guide covers what that entry needs.
A UK stocking list that survives the rules
- Petrol, 20 litres: metal only. This is the NATO-pattern and upright steel range.
- Petrol, plastic: 10 litres or less, UV-stabilised, fuel-service grade.
- Diesel: plastic or metal at 20 litres, outside the petrol container limits.
- Water: no petroleum rules at all. Food-contact and drinking-water documentation instead.
- Transport of filled cans: UN marking for the design type, made under quality assurance the competent authority accepts.
What we can supply against this
Our metal range covers the 20-litre petrol case the Regulations point at, in NATO pattern and upright, internally coated for hydrocarbon service. We hold UN certification for our dangerous-goods designs plus ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 45001. Ask for the certificate number covering your design and the plant named on it.
There is no UK-specific approval scheme for the can itself to certify against, which is why the material and capacity rule above does the work. We will not tell you a 20-litre plastic can is a UK petrol container, because the schedule says otherwise. If a supplier offers you one, check the schedule rather than the datasheet.
Where to start
| Your use case | Recommended can | Why this one |
|---|---|---|
| Petrol at 20 litres |  20L NATO Steel Fuel Can |
Metal, which is the only route to 20 L for petrol. |
| Small-volume petrol |  3L Compact Fuel Can |
Well inside the plastic and metal limits alike. |
| Diesel and other fuels in plastic |  Fluorinated HDPE Jerrycan |
Outside the petrol size rules; fluorinated against permeation. |
| Potable water |  20L Stainless Steel Water Can |
No petroleum regime applies. |
Common questions
What size petrol container is legal in the UK?
A portable petrol container may hold no more than 10 litres if it is plastic, and no more than 20 litres if it is metal, under the Petroleum (Consolidation) Regulations 2014. A 20 litre plastic jerrican is therefore not a UK petrol container however it is built or certified elsewhere.
How much petrol can I store at home in the UK?
In Great Britain, up to 30 litres without telling anyone. Between 30 and 275 litres you must notify your local Petroleum Enforcement Authority in writing, and renew the notice every January. Above 275 litres you need a licence. Northern Ireland is stricter: two metal containers of up to 10 litres or two plastic containers of up to 5 litres in a domestic garage.
Do the same size limits apply to diesel?
No. The Petroleum (Consolidation) Regulations govern petrol, which is the volatile low-flashpoint fuel the thresholds exist to control. Diesel sits outside those container-size rules, which is why 20 litre plastic diesel containers are ordinary in the UK while 20 litre plastic petrol containers are not.
Does a jerry can need UKCA marking after Brexit?
No. A jerrican is not a product that carried CE marking, so there is no UKCA equivalent for the container itself. What did diverge is chemicals regulation: UK REACH now runs alongside EU REACH, which can affect coatings and anything sold as chemical packaging.
Is a UN-marked plastic can allowed for petrol in the UK at 20 litres?
No. UN marking is a dangerous-goods transport approval and does not override the domestic container size limits. A can can hold a valid UN 3H1 approval and still be outside the UK petrol container rules, because the two regimes answer different questions.
Is petrol the same as petroleum?
No. Petroleum covers crude oil and the fuels refined from it, such as petrol and diesel (US EIA). The Petroleum (Consolidation) Regulations 2014 define petrol as petroleum, or a mixture of petroleum with other substances, that is liquid or viscous at 15 °C and has a flash point below 21 °C.
Diesel flashes at 55 °C or above, so it is petroleum but not petrol, and the 10 and 20 litre container limits do not reach it.
Can you fill a jerry can at a petrol station?
Yes, if it is a suitable portable container. Regulation 12 of the Petroleum (Consolidation) Regulations 2014 allows a forecourt dispenser to fill one. For petrol that means plastic of 10 litres or less or metal of 20 litres or less, in good repair, not leaking and marked for petrol.
Petrol may not be dispensed into anything else, which is why staff refuse a 20 litre plastic can. Nobody under 16 may operate a dispenser on a forecourt.
References
The standards and regulations this page relies on, at their issuing body. Where a market rule is named here, check the current revision before you specify against it.
- The Petroleum (Consolidation) Regulations 2014 (SI 2014/1637)
- HSE: petrol storage and petroleum enforcement
- HSE: UK REACH
- UN Model Regulations on the Transport of Dangerous Goods (Rev. 24)
- ADR: Agreement concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road (UNECE)
- HSE — DSEAR, dangerous substances and explosive atmospheres
First published
Last reviewed by Clarence Cheang, Co-Founder & COO. How we review our guides Fortitude21 makes and sells liquid containers; our guides carry no affiliate links.
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