Beijing gas station refueling

**Lao Jia Hou** · 06-28-2013, 12:22 AM

There is a gas station a few hundred meters West of the Temple of Heaven's North gate. It is very popular with motorcyclists because it has never asked for the blue book or DLs, and the pump people are always pleasant and smiling. You'd also see a lot of the three-wheeled box-thingies filling up there. It was usually quite a busy station.

Went by there yesterday and, noticing it was almost empty, I zipped in for a fill-up. They had a table set up next to the pumps, with a big book (like an accounting ledger) being managed by a grumpy old guy (maybe the owner?). Everyone's DL and blue book detail was jotted down and photos taken. Became obvious why this place was not busy. And I also understood why the old guy was grumpy - I'd be p'd off too, if I was forced to have my business partake in this silly system.

**Rewi Alley** · 06-28-2013, 12:45 AM

As a gweilo who has done around 20,000 km of motorcycle touring in the past, starting in 1986, I have never experienced this motorcycle re-fuelling lunacy. Can someone tell me:

1, is this a nation-wide law, or is it a refuelling station advisory;

2, when was it introduced?

3, what is a DL ?

4, what is a Blue Book?

We had registered bikes and just rode, refuelled direct from the pumps, and carried on.

**bikerdoc** · 06-28-2013, 01:43 AM

1. No, it's not a nationwide law. I ride a lot and quite far and have never experienced this ridiculous and discriminatory policy and if I was subjected to such draconian measures well hell have no fury like... but I'd also likely have a 5-10L fuel can and simply fill it and then use that to fill the tank of my bike.

2. ? doesn't apply in any of the provinces I've ridden in. Just travelled through Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Fujian, Guangxi in the past month and never experienced this nor saw it.

3. DL = drivers license/licence

4. Blue book = is really a misnomer since it refers to the blue wallet 行驶证 vehicle license/licence that are issued by the 交警大队车辆管理所 traffic police and vehicle administration bureau. This is the one that should be produced when demanded by an authorised person.

Green book (FYI) = 车辆登记证书 vehicle registration certificate that are issued by the 交警大队车辆管理所 traffic police and vehicle administration bureau

**TB-Racing** · 06-28-2013, 03:23 AM

During my recent 5+ weeks Beijing visit was asked several times to show the motorbike blue book (registration booklet) at Sinopec stations inside the 4th. ring road but was never refused to fill up at Sinopec stations using the prepaid Sinopec cards.
Never asked to show my driving license, register or remove my helmet (used my Schuberth C3 flip-up while in capital city).

Now, on several occasions was approached while filling up by some Cheap Charlies (foreigners) riding un-plated / un-licensed petrol scooters to use my bloom book to fill up, you know my straight forward in you face reply to the requests for sure....

side-note: totally understand the measures the Beijing government is taking to get the unlicensed clowns off the streets. Was very surprised to see so many motorcycles and supercars (Porsche, Ferrari, Bntley, Lambo, etc.) without license plates during my stay up in Beijing.
going around the BJ Workers Stadium on a weekend night feels like going to an international car expo, every imaginable supercar parked in front of one of the busy night clubs without plates of course....

pss: a mate has huge problems to get petrol for his petrol lawnmower out in Shunyi with the metal jerry cans....

**ShuBen** · 06-28-2013, 04:50 AM

.........pss: a mate has huge problems to get petrol for his petrol lawnmower out in Shunyi with the metal jerry cans....

let me explain:

Its because the Public security found out that dangerous lawnmower fuel bombs are used by Chinese separatists from "the green front"??? Imagine, they are much small than a truck with Diesel-Fertilizer mix, not suspicious and therefore only to be detected by the staff on fuel stations where they are filled up. Frightening, right???

**Lao Jia Hou** · 06-28-2013, 11:18 AM

If you can believe everything you read in forums, this gas station debacle just took another strange twist.

Over on a Chinese forum (motofans), a few people are starting to post that they have been refused fill ups because their B plate is registered in a company name, not an individual person. In a strange way, I guess that makes sense because of the following ...

What some crooks do is put a fake B plate (with associated fake paperwork) on an illegal/stolen bike and sell it as "legal", substantially raising the price. The fake B plate is in a company name, therefore the buyer does not do a document transfer upon purchase (a transfer at the police station would uncover that the bike's documents are all fake). In company-registered B-plate transactions, the seller & buyer usually just do a Bill of Sale. Company B-plate registrations are common in Beijing, primarily because of the residency restrictions and difference in A <-> B plate prices - I am not sure if Shanghai, or other cities, have something similar.

IMHO, this current gas station nonsense appears linked to the recently announced crackdown. Kernelpanx offered one idea on that other thread (i.e., related to stolen bikes) that appears supported by my own unscientific research. On a thread about crooks openly selling stolen bikes in Beijing, I commented that I was surprised these thieves would so blatantly advertise their spoils on well-known websites (e.g., 58.com). Often with my morning breakfast, I'll check the ads out of curiosity. There would always be a couple of new "lost the paper work and need to sell immediately" bikes for a tiny fraction of market price - these ads have totally disappeared in the last week. Haven't seen one.

Digressing slightly further off-topic, I had a lively debate with a couple of Chinese riders at lunch today. They were going on and on about how much they hated bike thieves, and the thieves should be tortured, or worse. I asked them "what about the illegal bikes - the bikes smuggled in - why do people seem to be OK with buying those?" They both looked at me like I was the dumbest person on the planet and said "they are illegal because they are smuggled." To which I asked "have you ever wondered where they come from? Do you think they might have been stolen in another country and smuggled into China?" They kinda sheepishly said "never really thought about that."

OMFG. Crooks' paradise.

**PeteZ** · 06-28-2013, 01:36 PM

I once checked some of the VIN numbers on photos of some of the smuggled big-bore Japanese bikes for sale on 58.com and weifengtang and most of them were wrecked bikes from the US that had been advertised for sale on breakers' websites in the US. Not saying that some of them weren't stolen but I reckon most of them were salvage bikes that had been purchased legally, taken apart, and then shipped off to China to the notorious port at Jie Shi where they are reassembled, fixed up and tarted up to look all new and shiny. To me, it's all the more reason not to ever buy one.

**thedannywahl** · 06-28-2013, 11:53 PM

Originally Posted by Lao Jia Hou

Over on a Chinese forum (motofans), a few people are starting to post that they have been refused fill ups because their B plate is registered in a company name, not an individual person.

Starting to sound like it's going to be easier for me to take the bus to Beijing this fall instead of riding up... Or carry 20L of fuel with me from Tianjin ;)

**Lao Jia Hou** · 06-29-2013, 02:31 AM

Originally Posted by PeteZ

I once checked some of the VIN numbers on photos of some of the smuggled big-bore Japanese bikes for sale on 58.com and weifengtang and most of them were wrecked bikes from the US that had been advertised for sale on breakers' websites in the US. Not saying that some of them weren't stolen but I reckon most of them were salvage bikes that had been purchased legally, taken apart, and then shipped off to China to the notorious port at Jie Shi where they are reassembled, fixed up and tarted up to look all new and shiny. To me, it's all the more reason not to ever buy one.

Good point!

Originally Posted by thedannywahl

Starting to sound like it's going to be easier for me to take the bus to Beijing this fall instead of riding up... Or carry 20L of fuel with me from Tianjin ;)

No, don't worry - this is a temporary inconvenience - things will be back to "NerMeL" in a while. Besides, this "crackdown" is inconsistent in its application. One station will be strict, whereas the next one won't be. I had one female Chinese rider tell me her trick is to find a gas station that is really busy with cars - the gas jockeys can't be bothered with paperwork - just flash the blue book and you're good. Of course, she is also quite pretty - not like my ugly, big-nosed, face.

**crismoe'** · 06-29-2013, 03:51 AM

Originally Posted by bikerdoc

Green book (FYI) = 车辆登记证书 vehicle registration certificate that are issued by the 交警大队车辆管理所 traffic police and vehicle administration bureau

i was told that i don't really need to bring the green book with me all the time, the blue wallet is enough with the insurance card and ofcourse your valid DL.