No more meths??

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eel28

Settler
Aug 27, 2009
599
11
Bedfordshire
Hello all, not posted in a good while but hope you can still provide an answer :)

I popped into a local independent outdoors shop this morning, and whilst making a couple of purchases and chatting to the member of staff that was serving me, he said that it is now illegal to sell meths in the UK!!

Now I haven't heard of this before so thought I'd check with you good people here to see if you can either back him up, or like me, think he is talking out of his rear end!

Have tried searching this site, but couldn't find anything :(
 

eel28

Settler
Aug 27, 2009
599
11
Bedfordshire
Can't seem to find anything on Google either, but glad you are with me :) was wondering what I'd do without my trusty Trangia!
 

swotty

Full Member
Apr 25, 2009
1,878
246
Somerset
The man's delusional..... He's not getting confused with khat is he? I believe that's illegal to sell now :lmao:
 

ADz-1983

Native
Oct 4, 2012
1,603
11
Hull / East Yorkshire
The only thing I can think of is that there may be some legislation that stops his particular shop from stocking it but even then I can't think of any reason other than they have been selling it to kids etc. He he was actually saying that it's illegal in UK he's lying or just "special".
 

PDA1

Settler
Feb 3, 2011
646
5
Framingham, MA USA
The new standards for denatured alcohol do not use methanol to denature, so it is no longer "methylated spirits" . SO he is correct, "methylated spirits" are now illegal. You must use/buy denatured alcohol using different denaturing agents. BTW,"Bio Ethanol" is just denatured alcohol,using the same denaturing agents as any other. EU standard uses Isopropyl alcohol and methyl ethyl ketone as the denaturing agents. USA denatured alcohol still uses methanol as a denaturing agent.
 

eel28

Settler
Aug 27, 2009
599
11
Bedfordshire
Ooo that does sound a good price at BM's, used to get it from Wilkos until the price shot up - nearly twice that BM price last time I bought some there. Saying that though, last lot of meths I bought was a 5L bottle from Go Outdoors, which worked out very inexpensive per litre :cool:
 

ADz-1983

Native
Oct 4, 2012
1,603
11
Hull / East Yorkshire
The new standards for denatured alcohol do not use methanol to denature, so it is no longer "methylated spirits" . SO he is correct, "methylated spirits" are now illegal. You must use/buy denatured alcohol using different denaturing agents. BTW,"Bio Ethanol" is just denatured alcohol,using the same denaturing agents as any other. EU standard uses Isopropyl alcohol and methyl ethyl ketone as the denaturing agents. USA denatured alcohol still uses methanol as a denaturing agent.

Link or never happened.
 
Last edited:

PDA1

Settler
Feb 3, 2011
646
5
Framingham, MA USA
I thought the EU reglation was common knowledge, but if you must:
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2013:049:0055:0061:EN:PDF

While UK "methylated spirits" did contain Methyl violet, the name came about because of the inclusion of methanol to make it poisonous. Bioethanol is made to the same standard as all other denatured alcohol in the EU. It contains no petrol. The name "Bio" comes from the marketing department, and relates to the use of "bio" materials, mainly corn, as the raw material for making the ethanol by a fermentation process, rather than by a chemical process from a petroleum base.
 

ADz-1983

Native
Oct 4, 2012
1,603
11
Hull / East Yorkshire
I think the point is that whether it uses methanol or not is not the issue, It's still called "methylated spirit" and the seller was misleading and made out it simply was not sold any more or "illegal" when it simply is not.

It's still called "methylated spirit" and it does same thing so ingredients are irrelevant as to whether it's sold or used any more. The seller was misleading or buyer misunderstood. Either way seller should have simply said they do not have any in stock, since they didnt. Nothing to do with legality or ingredients.
 

ateallthepies

Native
Aug 11, 2011
1,558
0
hertfordshire
Order online at Rest Express, £10 for 5 litres when you buy 4. Spend another tenner and you get free delivery. Yes Methanol is cheaper still but I prefer Meths as I feel it is a bit safer if I get it on my skin.
 

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