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Temporary marking spray for a located line

Updated: 16 October 2026

You have a line for concrete, asphalt, or grass, and the search has offered a keyring can the size of a lipstick. Temporary marking spray, in this set, is one product: Soppec Tempo TP, 500 ml, orange, at £10.29. The Products Compared editorial team read that amazon.co.uk extract on 15 October 2026, with HSE HSG47, HAUC Bulletin 39, and the Street Works UK colour note of July 2024. We did not run a laboratory test, and this folder has no safety data sheet. A toucher is a different job, on [how to mark a toucher](/hub/occupational-safety-accessories/chalk-spray/sub/chalk-spray-how-to-mark-a-toucher). The [chalk spray comparison](/hub/occupational-safety-accessories/chalk-spray) shows the other five rows.

You have a line for concrete, asphalt, or grass, and the search has offered a keyring can the size of a lipstick. Temporary marking spray, in this set, is one product: Soppec Tempo TP, 500 ml, orange, at £10.29.

Our top picks

Drakes Pride Drakes Pride bowls chalk spray with keyring

Best overall

Drakes Pride Drakes Pride bowls chalk spray with keyring
9.2/10about £6.60
View offer
Soppec Soppec Tempo TP orange marking spray, 500 ml

Alternative

Soppec Soppec Tempo TP orange marking spray, 500 ml
9.2/10about £10.29
View offer
Drakes Pride Drakes Pride white chalk spray, pack of 20

Best value

Drakes Pride Drakes Pride white chalk spray, pack of 20
9.2/10about £77.00
View offer
On this page
  1. 1.Locate first, then mark
  2. 2.What this 500 ml can claims
  3. 3.Orange is not a full utility code
  4. 4.When to stop and call someone

Locate first, then mark

HSG47 puts the order in one direction. You locate the service, then you mark what you have found, with crayon, chalk, or paint. On a paved surface the mark has to last until the work is done. You do not drive steel pins into the line. Colour, if you use it, follows the buried-service code, not BS 1710. A can records a locate you have already made. Treat unidentified black plastic as a live cable until the owner says otherwise, and iron or steel pipe as gas until the owner confirms it. The £6.50 bowls can is the wrong record even after a good locate. Reviewers who tried beds and grass lines said it was far too small. The short split is bowls chalk spray versus survey spray.

What this 500 ml can claims

Tempo TP, model 141616O, is the only site can here. The bullets say about 2–8 weeks, a mark you can see from a distance, and drying in about 10 minutes. The table says outdoor, names concrete, gives 10–15 m² per litre, lists 454 g, and says the paint is not waterproof. The manufacturer describes chalk-based temporary paint and mechanical removal. Nine UK reviews, inside 104 ratings at 4.6, do not repeat one life: about six weeks on pavement, a fade in the first rain, and many months. The components field says Brush, which the bullets never describe. A Highways England B9 note says that if work starts more than about 48 hours later, consider a longer-lived mark.
Drakes Pride Drakes Pride bowls chalk spray with keyring

Testsieger

Drakes Pride Drakes Pride bowls chalk spray with keyring
9.2/10about £6.60
View offer

Orange is not a full utility code

This folder has one survey colour, orange. Street Works UK’s July 2024 note is the colour language for buried apparatus, and one can cannot satisfy it. Electricity is discussed as black or red cable, polyethylene gas as often yellow, and clean water in connection with blue. Legacy mains do not all match. Orange on this listing is not automatically a traffic-control mark, and it is not the colour your crew has agreed unless you have agreed it. HAUC Bulletin 39, under section 132 of the Highways Act 1980, says a utility can have a reason to mark a highway. The mark should still be temporary, light, washed off, and not white. The white bowls cans fail that colour rule and do not hold a site line. A circle around dog mess is not a located service.

When to stop and call someone

Stop when the mark would stand in for a locate, including a drive you have not identified. Stop on a live carriageway if you are not the person allowed to mark it. Stop when the only clue is black plastic or an iron pipe and nobody has confirmed it. Stop when the spraying is the hazard. The HSE note on spraying treats solvent mist as a workplace exposure in a poorly ventilated space. There is no safety data sheet here. Only the Stevens bowls bullets say water-based, and that can is not this marker. The other prices are in the chalk spray buying guide. Amazon links on the main comparison may earn us a commission.

Common questions

Can I mark a cable with the bowls chalk spray?
Not with these cans. The Drakes Pride and Stevens listings are pocket aerosols for a toucher. Reviewers who tried the £6.50 can on a flower bed or a grass line said it was far too small. HSG47 allows chalk, crayon, or paint after a locate, and the mark still has to stay visible for the dig. The 500 ml orange can is the only site marker here, and only after the service is located.
Does orange mean a particular utility?
Not by itself. Street Works UK discusses electricity as black or red cable, polyethylene gas as often yellow, and clean water in connection with blue. Legacy mains do not all match. Orange on Tempo TP is the colour of this one listing, not a full set of utility colours, and not automatically a traffic mark. Agree the colour with the crew.
How long is Tempo TP supposed to last?
The amazon.co.uk bullets and the manufacturer say about 2–8 weeks. The table says the paint is not waterproof and that it dries in about 10 minutes. That is a short-term claim, not a promise of six weeks. A Highways England B9 note suggests a longer-lived mark if work starts more than about 48 hours later. If the dig can slip by months, this band is the wrong plan.
Why do some reviews say it lasts months and others say one shower?
The UK reviews do not repeat one life. One pavement mark was put at about six weeks. One court outline faded in the first rain. Other marks were still there after many months, and a roof message needed a jet washer. The listing says 2–8 weeks and not waterproof. Plan for a wash-off in rain or a mark that outstays a short job. Do not average those reviews into one number of weeks.
May I use white paint on the road?
HAUC Bulletin 39 says no. A utility may have a reason to mark a highway under section 132, and the mark should still be temporary, light, washed off, and not white. The white aerosols here are bowls chalk. Tempo TP is orange, which avoids that ban, and it still needs a reason. It is not decoration on the carriageway.
What if I have not located the service yet?
Do not spray a line and call it found. HSG47 marks a service after it is located. Treat unidentified black plastic as a live cable, and iron or steel pipe as gas, until the owner confirms it. A can cannot see through the ground. If the plans and the locator disagree, the next step is the locate, not a brighter colour.

Related pages

Best chalk spray in this set

Chalk spray

Bowls chalk spray vs survey spray on green or site

Chalk spray buying guide: which can and which pack

How to mark a toucher: chalk at once, or nominate it

Sources

Public UK sources and the manufacturer page, as listed in the research digest. amazon.co.uk prices are the six listing extracts of 15 October 2026.

  1. World Bowls Crystal Mark Fourth Edition, Law 15 (retrieved 15 October 2026)
  2. Bowls England domestic regulations, 1 March 2023 (retrieved 15 October 2026)
  3. HSE HSG47, Avoiding danger from underground services (retrieved 15 October 2026)
  4. HAUC (UK) Bulletin 39, marking out on the highway (retrieved 15 October 2026)
  5. Street Works UK colour coding, July 2024 (retrieved 15 October 2026)
  6. Aerosol Dispensers Regulations 2009, GOV.UK (retrieved 15 October 2026)
  7. HSE, spraying and hazardous substances (retrieved 15 October 2026)
  8. Soppec Tempo TP temporary marking spray (retrieved 15 October 2026)