Repairs woe as drivers buy 'contaminated' fuel

Petrol station customers have been left with big repair bills after filling up their vehicles with suspected contaminated fuel.

Motorists have reported breaking down a short time after buying diesel from The Mount Service Station in Shrewsbury on 1 December.

The BBC has approached the independently-owned and operated site for a comment.

The petrol station is Essar-branded. The company said: "We understand from the dealer who owns the site that some fuel was affected by water ingress into an underground fuel tank."

Essar added: "Customer safety and product quality are our highest priorities and all fuel delivered to the site fully met our required specification."

Once water was found in the tank, it was taken out of service, Essar said.

It stated that since that time "the dealer has informed us that this issue has been resolved and customers can confidently buy fuel from this site".

It encouraged affected motorists to contact the petrol station directly.

Customers have told the BBC they have received little response from staff there.

Peter Bound from Copthorne said he filled up his car with diesel while bringing his wife home from hospital on 1 December.

He said the car "conked out" within 50 yards and when a mechanic looked at his vehicle he was told the fuel needed taking out and that a new fuel filter needed fitting at a cost of £300.

Mr Bound said he had received little response from Essar and the petrol station, but discovered through social media there had been other people affected.

"I know of at least 10 to 15 people that have been affected by this and some of them are having to have their cars basically taken apart in the garage," he said.

"People have the right to be angry about it.

"There's some families there its going to cost them a lot of money and Christmas is coming up."

Sandra Ryan from Pulverbatch works for a company which had a van taken off the road after filling up at the station.

She said she was waiting to hear back from the company's insurers, but the repair bill could be up to £6,000.

Ms Ryan said she wanted the garage to "take some responsibility".

Another motorist, Andy Harrison, told the BBC when his van broke down after filling up, he called out an AA engineer.

"He straight away knew the issue - vans and cars apparently all over the place were breaking down after fuelling up at the Mount Service Station," Mr Harrison said.

Initially, he said, the station was helpful and arranged to have someone come out to clear the contaminated fuel. But he said the van broke down again the next day and he discovered there was more widespread damage to his vehicle.

"It has caused me time off work, it's caused me to spend money on a rental vehicle," Mr Harrison said.

Since then he said he has had "no real reaction" from the station and was getting "rather frustrated".

Although the petrol station has not responded to the BBC's request for comment, Mr Harrison said he had received a text message from it.

The message read: "We regret to inform you that a fuel contamination incident occurred at our petrol site recently.

"Unfortunately, this has caused breakdowns in a few customers' vehicles."

An apology was also given in the message, and a complaint was said to have been made with the "relevant authorities".

The text said an insurance claim had been made to support affected customers and asked him not to share "unverified information or speculation on social media, as this may cause unnecessary concern".

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