Tesco refuses compensation for drivers who say contaminated fuel at Applemore filling station damaged their cars
A SUPERMARKET which sold tainted fuel has refused to pay compensation to some motorists who say their cars were damaged as a result.
As reported in the A&T earlier this month, Tesco has previously apologised for selling diesel which became contaminated with water from a leaky underground tank at its Applemore filling station.
The company insists it has fixed the problem, which it said affected one underground tank feeding a few pumps.
It told affected customers to come forward, but two have told the A&T the supermarket is refusing to pay for repairs to cars they say were affected by the contamination.
Barbara Dixon from Hythe said her Mercedes Sprinter van broke down after she put 27 litres of contaminated diesel into her half-filled tank from pump three at the station.
She said: “After filling up, I drove just over four miles down the road to feed my horses at Langley.
“When I went to leave an hour later, I couldn’t get the engine to turn over. I called a mechanic who got me home and later drained the tank and decontaminated the fuel filter.
“He confirmed the fuel was contaminated.”
After complaining to Tesco customer service, Barbara received a reply saying: “The pump you filled up from does not feed from the tank which was affected (by water contamination).
“Although we did experience a problem at the store, it was not from the pump you used.
“In the week around your fill date (8th January) the tank traded 41,008 litres of diesel. Based on an average fill of 33 litres, this equates to approximately 1,200 customer fills and we’ve had no other complaints.
“We are not able to accept liability for what's happened to your vehicle.”
In response, Barbara said: “It seems a bit of a coincidence I’ve had the same issue as everyone else but my vehicle was not affected – I don’t buy it. The pump I used was recently closed off.
“Why would I try to fake a problem only to then get £220 of repairs done the same day?
“My van has never had problems like this before or since. It seems too much of a coincidence to have this problem immediately after filling up at a station where that exact problem was previously acknowledged.
“It’s a lot of money for me to be out of pocket by, and it’s the principle of it.”
In response, a Tesco spokesperson said: “After testing of this fuel tank at our Hythe superstore, we can confirm that there was no fuel contamination present.”
Will Beard said his work van began breaking down after he filled up at the station.
Mr Beard said: “I filled up there earlier this month and, shortly after, my van began breaking down – it would conk out if I went below 1,500 revs. I’ve never had any problems before.
“I had to have about £500 of work done to my van – cleaning clogged fuel filters, etc – and that was confirmed to have been caused by contaminated fuel.”
After approaching Tesco customer service for compensation, Mr Beard received an email saying the company has “not received any similar complaints of this type”.
Tesco’s email stated: “During the time period you purchased the fuel we had other transactions on the same pump and no other customer issues were reported.
“I am glad to be able to rule this out as a potential cause of your car’s issues.”
After Mr Beard questioned that claim, he received another email saying: “We take contaminated fuel complaints very seriously. Based on the number of litres sold on site around the time of your transaction we would have expected to see a number of other issues reported, however, this has not been the case.”
Josh Bradsworth of New Forest Autos, who repaired Mr Beard’s vehicle, said he has worked on five vehicles in the past month which have been affected by contaminated fuel from the Tesco station.
He added: “I saw one of the breakdowns happen live. I was behind a VW van that filled up at the station. He left before me, but when I drove down the same road about 10 minutes after him, he was parked up by the roadside and had already broken down.”
