Dirty fuel blamed for wrecking engines

• Supermarket fuel could be contaminated
• Tesco fuel could be affected
• Supermarket says its fuel was tested and is clear

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Thousands of motorists have been left with repair bills of more than £1000 after their cars were contaminated by a rogue batch of fuel, believed to be from supermarket chains.

Initial reports suggest that Tesco outlets are amongst the possible sources for the dirty fuel, although it denies having found anything amiss.

Mark Peacock, Service Manager at Mercedes-Benz in Watford, said 15 cars with fuel problems have come through his service department in the last four days.

'It's terrible,' he said. 'The number of cars coming in is unbelievable - all of them have fuel that has been contaminated. Half of them came in after they refuelled at Tesco down the road. We don't know whether it is water or something else, but it is clear there is a problem.'

Mechanics at Mercedes have had to flush out the fuel tanks and fuel lines and then replace the oxygen sensors on all the cars suffering from contamination. Customers are paying between £800 and £1000 for the repairs.

'We've had reports from other dealerships as well as independent garages,' added Peacock. 'It's a shame for the customers, because their warranties do not cover this sort of thing.'

Fuel is clear, says Tesco
Tesco admitted it had received complaints from motorists who had suffered fuel problems after filling up at their stations.

Its statement said: 'As soon as we were alerted to a potential problem, we carried out extensive tests on current and past batches of unleaded fuel, including from some of the affected vehicles, and so far we have not discovered any abnormalities or contamination whatsoever.

'Whilst we cannot currently trace any problem back to Tesco fuel, we will of course continue to work urgently with our supplier to identify what might be behind it. If we discover any problem with our fuel, we will inform customers immediately and act quickly to put it right.'

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