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Rogue petrol could put 400,000 off the road
Last updated at 08:22am on 02.03.07
There have been reports that some outlets in Kent and East Sussex have been including ethanol in their petrol
Video: The contaminated petrol crisis deepened yesterday as millions of drivers were urged to replace the fuel in their tanks over fears they could suffer catastrophic breakdowns.
Thousands of cars have already spluttered to a halt over the past fortnight after being filled with the 95 octane unleaded supermarket petrol but there are fears the figure could rise to 400,000.
Video...motorists panic over faulty fuel • Windows Media Player
• Faulty fuel crisis: Your questions answered
The Petrol Retailers' Association warned motorists who had used supermarket forecourts in the last two weeks they should dump their petrol as a precaution even if they had not experienced any problems.
There were demands that Tesco, Morrisons and Asda - the stores at the centre of the crisis - stop selling unleaded fuel as it emerged that traces of silicon had been found in some samples of the rogue fuel.
Tesco initially insisted that tests had given its fuel the all-clear but last night admitted that it was now carrying out further tests for silicon and other contaminants. If the tests proved positive, it would 'do the right thing and act quickly to put it right'.
There were reports that traditional petrol companies were putting up prices by as much as 2p a litre having previously matched the nearby supermarket price - prompting accusations of profiteering.
Two Shell garages, in Luton and Leighton Buzzard, put unleaded petrol up by 2p a litre yesterday. Other Shell,
BP and Texaco forecourts in parts of the South-East put the price of unleaded up by 1p a litre.
The moves came amid accusations of a 'cover up' and claims by petrol retailers that Britain's 30million drivers had fallen victim to a 'headlong rush' to go green as a new generation of chemicals such as ethanol are added to fuel.
Experts have spent the past week testing fuel samples but yesterday admitted they had been left totally baffled, although small amounts of silicon were found in one sample.
Tesco, Morrisons and Asda have found nothing in tests. Trading Standards investigators are awaiting further results today.
The Daily Mail has learned that there are two oil companies - not one - at the centre of the crisis.
Both companies - Greenergy and Harvest Energy - store petrol in the same shared tanks on the Thames Estuary in Essex and both supply fuel to the affected supermarkets.
They insisted that tests had found their petrol to meet required standards but further investigations were being carried out.
Petrol retailers fear that ministerial efforts to meet EU targets on the environment may be creating unforeseen problems for cars.
Transport and treasury ministers have pledged that by 2010 some five per cent of all fuels will be greener, leading to the introduction of ethanol - a form of alcohol made from plants -into petrol.
Low amounts - up to five per cent - are said to be harmless and to improve emissions, but in larger amounts they can cause engine failure.
Ray Holloway, director of the Petrol Retailers' Association, said: 'We could be paying the price of going green too fast. The Government has encouraged the headlong rush to go green to meet European targets. There's always the risk that we've hurried it.
'Motorists may be the victims of unforeseen problems caused by the new cocktail of chemicals being put into fuel.
'The ten- day delay before the issue became public raises the suspicion-of a cover-up.' Mr Holloway advised motorists who have filled up at the supermarkets to drain their tanks as a precaution.
However, other motoring experts have described the move as ' excessive'.
Drivers face bills of up to £1,000 to replace oxygen sensors in the exhaust system, but these are not covered by warranties and supplies are running out because of demand.
The total bill could run into millions of pounds, according to the Association of British Drivers.
Malfunctioning vehicles have been concentrated in the South East of England.
A 12million litre batch of petrol shipped out of the Essex terminal on February 14 is thought to be to blame. This would have been bought by up to 400,000 motorists.
Kevin Delaney, head of road safety for the Institute of Advanced Motorists' Trust, said: 'There's a legal obligation on the supermarkets not to make matters worse and to ensure any harm is put right.
'The best way of doing that is to stop selling the fuel until the situation is resolved.'
Reader views (29)
Fantastic. I need a new car! How many of us will be putting in false claims to get back at the supermarkets?
- Robert Turner, United Kingdom, 02/03/2007 16:09
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I have had problems when I filled up my car with duff petrol. I have just been called by the dealer where my car is being fixed. They work with a company called Accident Exchange who are providing me with a car and recovering the charges and the cost of the repairs from the petrol company. Maybe all is not lost!
- Dave, Somerset, UK, 02/03/2007 15:53
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Best news I have heard in ages. We can look forward to a temporary drop in road accidents, respiratory problems (both saving NHS millions), and people using their legs for their designed purpose.
- Mr Freshair, East London, 02/03/2007 13:23
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I bet VW will have a bumper year!
- Jay, London, 02/03/2007 13:03
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Tesco has a 25% stake in Greenergy, who are investing in a new big scale biodiesel plan development due to open in late 2006 which will produce 100,000 tonnes of biodiesel a year, so we can expect other interesting facts to emerge.
- Ronald Mcdonald, Peterborough UK, 02/03/2007 10:59
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That'll probably do more to clear the roads than the congestion charge.
- Givenuphope, London England, 02/03/2007 10:49
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Update on hubby's car - £1800! And join the queue to wait for parts about a week! Thanks Morrisons - knew I didnt like supermarkets for a reason.
- Amanda Hill, Enfield, 02/03/2007 10:29
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I filled my my 1994 Citroen up at BP in Alnwick. I got also the "classic" symptoms of intermittent power from the engine after a cold start up but nevertheless prevailed and after a a degree of spluttering and after working the car slowly up to 70 mph, have had no more problems. I thought I had a problem with the fuel jets and so used a petrol additive and filled up with "super unleaded." The car now operates normally.
- Paul Marshall, Alnwick, Northumberland., 02/03/2007 05:24
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Why is it costing so much to replace the lambda sensors? You do know you can buy universal ones for around £30/£40. Why are people paying hundreds to get them replaced?
Bit of ripping off going on from the main dealers, as per usual.
Universal sensors are just as good as car specific ones, don't get ripped off!
- Chris Bryson, UK, 02/03/2007 02:24
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Every little, sometimes does not help...
- Gav, Essex, 01/03/2007 23:33
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I've driven past Tesco and it's still selling petrol. There are so many cases, including a friend of mine, that it's clear it's not just coincidence. Why don't Tesco and Morrisons just stop selling petrol until it is sorted. How long will it take to clean out all their pumps and why should their customers pick up major bills repairing their cars? This is a PR disaster for them - it's Tesco profit before managing their reputation.
- Sara, Bromley, 01/03/2007 14:51
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My guess would be that it's something very simple, like someone at the refinery filled a tank with the wrong additive, or dialled up ten times the right dose. "The end of society as we know it"? Hardly. It was far worse when something similar put poison in the drinking water at Camelford. This is just a right royal pain for those affected and a big bill for whoever is found to have blundered. I don't imagine it will take trading standards very long to work it out.
- Nigel, London, 01/03/2007 14:44
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I find it astounding that the supermarkets who are alleged to have supplied this fuel are taking such an arrogant approach of 'nothing wrong with our petrol'.
For so many vehicles to be affected over such a wide area of the UK there has to be a link, and as it is common for a tanker to deliver large quantities of petrol then return to the refinery for another load would rule out a contaminated tanker.
The common denominator here is either the blending process at refinery or contamination in the storage tanks, so why does identifing the cause seem so difficult and claim 'Not me, Guv'?
In the meantime motorists are left having to fork out hundreds of pounds for repairs for something that is not their fault.
Luckily I have not bee affected but sympathise with those inconvenienced.
- Colin Redman, Coleshill, Warwickshire, 01/03/2007 14:14
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This signals the end of society as we know it. This is all due to Blair and Brown. If New Labour had not been voted into power we would not have this problem with our petrol now. They are selling this country down the river. I lay the blame firmly at the feet of the PC lobby with their namby pamby health and safety directives. I would not be surprised if Brown creates a car breakdown tax. This is just another way of taxing the honest to god, salt of the earth, decent workers in this country. I suppose those dole bludgers will be given uncontaminated petrol for nothing paid for by the over taxed taxpay at basic rate tax payers. Blair, Brown you should hold your heads in shame at what you have done to Britains petrol and garage forecourt network. This would never have happened under Thatcher she vowed to make our petrol run on time and to be free from foreign contamination. Bring her back I say.
- Paul Urban, London UK, 01/03/2007 10:46
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Sounds like it's a new ecologically sound petrol, it breaks your car so you can't use it. Net effect = no carbon emmissions, let's hope other garages catch on.
- Lloyd, London, 01/03/2007 09:34
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I find all these reports rather confusing.
Ethanol, ie. concentrated industrial alcohol, is not necessarily a bad thing for a car engine:
It is added to car petrol in many countries, such as Sweden, France, Luxembourg, Belgium etc. and due to its distinctive smell easy to detect. (Brazil for example, has completely replaced petrol with ethanol, which is destilled from sugar)
Any one, who ever filled up his car with petrol in France should have had this experience and I never noticed loss of performance or even engine damage to my car.
What I find strange with the recent incidents of "rogue petrol", though, is the sharp drop in performance.
I am not an expert in chemical matters, but I suspect that it is not the ethanol content causing problems to drivers, but rather the wrong amount of octane in petrol.
Leadfree normal petrol must have 95 and Super 98 octane. Any less octane and the engine will not fire properly. (It is a bit like trying to burn off diesel in a petrol engine)
As a rule of the thumb: The lower the octane, the cheaper and more inferior the quality of petrol. Inferior petrol causes damage to modern engines, as witnessed in Eastern Europe during the Cold War.
Perhaps random samples of petrol should be taken from the relevent service stations and be analysed in laboratories for their octane content.
Should the levels be below 95 or 98, then there would be clear case for fraud committed by the supplier.
- Weddigen, London, 01/03/2007 09:11
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I purchased a new car and intend to look after it so I decided to check with the major Petrol/Diesel Companies such as Shell, Esso and BP about the quality of their Fuel having already heard stories about Bio Fuel in Supermarket Fuel. After much persistence I got some basic advice apart from the smokescreen re. British Standards, etc. The final straw however was the Manufacturer of my car's engine who advised me categorically not to use Bio-Fuel of which I was already aware and which is in most if not all Supermarket Fuels. Since they are the nearest Service Stations to my post code I have used Esso Energy or BP Ultimate and foregone the small penny and coupon savings offered by the Supermarkets. It is interesting to note that the Motoring Correspondent, "Honest John" in the Daily Telegraph warned motorist of this potential problem many months ago. I conjecture whether this may be another official wheeze to relieve congestion, if so it could be more effective than the Government's Road Pricing horror apart from which it takes immediate effect and will provide a lot of VAT for the Chancellor into the bargain as repairs are undertaken and paid for by owners of stricken cars.
- Peter Maddock, Gillingham, England., 01/03/2007 00:37
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Put in £20 of unleaded fuel at a large 'extra' superstore in Sandhurst. The next day the Citroen would hardly pull away, in fact it will not pull off up the slight incline on the road outside my driveway and has not moved from its position since. My mechanic has not called yet to establish what has caused this problem...
- Jeanette Davanzo, Camberley, 28/02/2007 23:52
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I have filled up twice from Tesco's at Sidcup and I noticed my engine warning light come on for 'no reason' a week ago! This is terrible, how can tesco's claim that they're not resposible? I will get my vehicle checked and just hope that my vehicle will be OK!
- Chris, Sidcup, Kent, 28/02/2007 23:39
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If ethanol has been ruled out by the AA and other testing departments - as in your reports on this page - could we be looking at a 'possible' sabotage incident here? Given the fact that the Supermarkets are constantly keeping fuel prices down!
Food for thought!
- Lin Jones, Carmarthenshire, West Wales, 28/02/2007 22:56
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I'm curious to know if it is just petrol that's affected. I've not read or heard if diesel supplies could also be contaminated. Does anyone know?
- Acranto, Surrey, 28/02/2007 22:55
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I filled up my VW Golf at my local Tesco's at the weekend and ever since it's been cutting out, stalling and generally not running as it should. I just thought it was a problem with my car and I wasn't aware of this issue with the petrol until now.
- Turner, Northampton, 28/02/2007 22:53
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It's costing me £350 plus VAT to replace two lambda sensors on my Porsche this weekend!
- Lisette, St Albans, 28/02/2007 22:47
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I bought petrol from ASDA in Hollingbury, Brighton just over two weeks ago and my car hasn't been well since. It's now in the garage waiting for a new lamba sensor to arrive - stocks are very low because of this problem. It looks like it's going to cost me about £200 to sort out and I'll be seeking compensation from ASDA.
- Craig Harrison, Haywards Heath, 28/02/2007 21:18
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My son who lives in Peacehaven in East Sussex started having problems with his Peugeot on Sunday after filling his car, it cost him £250 to get it put right today. He was lucky because his garage could get the parts, it seems others aren't so lucky as parts are not available.
- Mike Melbourne, Bedford, 28/02/2007 21:11
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I filled my Smart Car at Tesco Sutton and now it is awaiting to go to the Garage. We found that it had a lack of power and running irratic. The Engine Management light is now on all the time.
If I find out it was the Petrol I too would hope for some compensation.
- Trevor Freeman, Sutton Surrey, 28/02/2007 20:47
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I have been filling my Alfa 156 at Tesco Watford for the last few months - 10 days ago I noticed significant power loss and engine misfire. The car would cut out altogether when I stopped. The car is currently being repaired and the lambda sensor and mass airflow sensor have been replaced. If contaminated petrol is the cause then I will be pursuing legal action to recover my significant repair bill.
- Hemel, Watford, England, 28/02/2007 20:25
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I bought petrol from Tescos and have had probs pulling off when starting, the car judders and cuts out when trying to pull off! I thought maybe the filter had suddenly blocked but then saw the news..
- Spears, Camberwell, 28/02/2007 19:30
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I filled my Vauxhall Corsa up 3 days ago at Tesco Express locally and it has cut out twice while driving, thankfully not in a dangerous situation. It started again about 15 minutes later both times.
- Jennifer Brown, Leeds, 28/02/2007 18:47
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