Drivers furious as fuel from major supermarket with 500 stores ‘is contaminated and causing cars to suddenly break down’
DRIVERS are furious after fuel they bought from a major supermarket was “contaminated” and caused cars to “suddenly break down.”
The chain has almost 500 stores across the UK and provides petrol stations at many of its sites.
Some drivers, however, are now fuming that they are hundreds of pounds out of pocket after filling up their cars with what is thought to have been contaminated fuel from one the supermarket’s petrol station.
A number of people have experienced problems with their vehicles after buying unleaded at Morrisons in Strood, Kent last week.
David Abernethy put £65 of fuel in his Range Rover at around 5pm on Wednesday, September 25.
The 64-year-old, from Frindsbury, noticed there was something wrong the next morning.
He said his car refused to start up when he tried to turn it on.
After what he described as a period of “unusual” rumbling noises, the car seemed to eventually be fine on the road.
But he said the car was still not working properly.
Then he saw on social media that other motorists had been having similar issues after filling up at the Morrisons on Knight Road.
Earlier this year, the supermarket announced all its petrol stations had been taken on by another company, Motor Fuel Group (MFG).
David said he tried to contact MFG but without success.
He then didn’t use his car at all on Friday and rang them again on Monday as his wife could not get to work without the vehicle.
However, he says, he couldn’t get through to the company.
David eventually called the AA that day who drained 65 litres of fuel out of his car.
When he asked for a sample of the fuel, he said it was “a third water.”
Not only did it cost him £360 to get the fuel drained, but then another £90 to fill up his tank with unleaded premium, as advised by the breakdown company.
He added: “The mechanic showed me all the water in the bottle and said there shouldn’t be that much in the system.”
David said how it was “unfortunate” he was in the Morrisons car park at the time as he normally doesn’t fill up there.
John Lowdon, who lives just 300 yards away from the supermarket, filled his car up at around 8.30am on Friday (September 27) and noticed problems straight away.
The 74-year-old put £48 of petrol into his Ssangyong Tivoli ready to drive to Dorset for a family holiday on Sunday but says the car “spluttered” on his way home.
He said: “I managed to get home but the car was spluttering the whole time and I didn’t know what it was so I went out later to try it again and the car was dead, it wouldn’t do anything.”
John then went back to the petrol station in his wife’s car only to find that pump seven had a ‘do not use’ yellow box over it.
He was then provided with the number and email address of the fuel provider by the station.
After trying to get through on several occasions, he says the company confirmed it was investigating the problem.
He added: “I have no idea what was wrong with the petrol, all I know is that my car is dead.
“At the moment I don’t know what’s gone on. As far as I’m concerned, you’re buying the petrol from Morrisons.
“If you go and buy a packet of somebody’s sausages in Morrisons you don’t then have to go back to them to fix the problem.”
John says he hasn’t got a quote yet from his mechanic about the car’s problems and that he’ll have to pay what he has to in order to repair it.
But he shone light on the thought that some people “just can’t afford to pay for it.”
He added: “But there are people that just can’t afford to pay for it. If their car has just stopped in the middle of Strood they have no option but to pay £90 to get it towed away, and then £250-£300 to have it fixed – plus the cost of filling it up in the first place.
“It’s something like £450, and some people don’t have that nowadays and rely on their cars for work.”
He says he will not be returning to Morrisons for fuel.
As of yesterday (October 1), the unleaded option at pumps three, four, seven and eight were all out of use.
Several other people have taken to Facebook to report issues with their cars after filling them up at the same petrol station.
A Morrisons spokesman said: “We don’t own or operate the petrol sites anymore – they are all managed by MFG”.
MFG has been approached for comment by The Sun.