Hi all
Just heard on the local (northwest) news that there has been a spate of people breaking down because of dirty petrol (cloudy is the best description).
The report stated that the petrol had been purchased from a supermarket, not from a franchised forecourt.
Regards
Jonathan
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The real report says it was contaminated at the refinery - so it could be in any petrol station not only supermarkets.
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One of the Merc Vito vans at our company refused to start a few weeks ago and had to be towed in from London. The garage were just about to start investigating when the driver mentioned that he had filled up at a supermarket half hour before he stopped. Sure enough the fuel filter was absolutely clogged with c### and the whole thing had to be drained and flushed. As you can imagine this cost a fair bit for the towing and work and the supermarket refuses to accept any liability even though at least another 50 vehicles were affected according to trading standards.
Personally I would avoid supermarket fuel.
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If you can prove you bought the fuel at a particular garage I would have thought that they were liable under Sale Goods Act, fitness of goods for purpose etc. They can probably feed the claim and cost through to the refinery anyway so don't take no for an answer!
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Personally I would avoid supermarket fuel.
On what basis?
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>> Personally I would avoid supermarket fuel. On what basis?
I must admit that until recenty I did avoid all supermarket petrol after having previously used it in the old work AstraVan and noticing a significant performance reduction.
But when it's 3am, the fuel light is flashing and fuel computer display is reminding me that I only have 10 miles range left in the tank, I had no choice but to fill up the Vectra with supermarket fuel, as it was the only forecourt I could find.
Time to swallow some humble pie. I've previously mentioned in this forum that I would never use supermarket fuel again. However, I've filled up twice more with supermarket petrol since nearly running out at 3am, and have noticed no difference whatsoever in performance. However, old habits die hard and still prefer to fill up at somewhere like Esso if I can.
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Marcos
Avoid supermarket fuel? Where does it come from? Sainsbury, Tesco ASDA etc have 40% of the market, but don't have refinery between them. Their tankers queue up with the rest at the 6 or so refineries in the UK. I don't believe for one moment that refineries make special cheap and dirty fuel for the supermarkets.
These problems can occur anywhere due to undrained dirt and water being stirred up during deliveries - it's a problem specific to the fuel station management. I always remember being told as a lad to avoid filling the car when the tanker was delivering.
Regards
John S
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As someone who is very involved with supermarket fuel, I can assure you that it is no different from anyone else's. Up here in Scotland, all fuel comes out of Grangemouth, regardless of which company it goes to - Esso, Shell etc.
Yes you will get a dodgy batch occasionally as reported here, but in the main, you won't.
If someone had came to me to tell me that my fuel had caused the problem, I wouldn't wash my hands of it. Especially if the driver had the sense to quickly call in the Petroleum Officer from the local council who has the authority to take samples and close me down on the spot..........
Get the drift??
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