Supermarkets clear pumps after 'faulty' petrol debacle » Communities » 24dash.com

Supermarkets were tonight clearing their pumps of "faulty" petrol which has hit thousands of cars, as a supplier said it had traced the silicon contamination to a series of storage tanks.

Harvest Energy, which shares facilities at Royal Vopak's oil terminal at West Thurrock, Essex, with Greenergy, said its tests had found "unusually high levels of silicon" in four petrol storage tanks at the site.

Harvest Energy said fuel blended from the contaminated tanks had been supplied to various petrol retailers.

Earlier Greenergy, which supplies Tesco and Morrisons, said a component understood to be bought and used by Asda supplier Harvest Energy in the production of unleaded petrol had tested positive for excess levels of silicon.

Thousands of motorists have been affected by the contaminated petrol in recent days, many of whom said they had bought fuel from filling stations at Tesco and Morrisons supermarkets in the South East.

Tesco and Asda were tonight working to replace unleaded petrol in forecourts supplied from the terminal with new fuel, while Morrisons has closed its affected pumps while tests are carried out.

The supermarkets are promising to pay compensation to customers whose cars have suffered damage from the "faulty" fuel.

In a statement Harvest Energy said the contamination had not been detected prior to sale because routine standards testing of petrol did not include a test for silicon as it would not normally be in the fuel.

"We will now be testing for silicon as a matter of course," the company said.

Harvest Energy said it had isolated the higher silicon fuel, and could guarantee no further contaminated petrol would be distributed.

All petrol at the terminal now available for distribution had minimal silicon levels (less than one part per million) in line with industry norms, the company said.

Harvest Energy said it was working to discover the source of the contamination, which may have occurred at the terminal or from contaminated fuel brought into the site from elsewhere.

The company also said it had appointed an independent inspection company to test fuel stocks at more than 100 petrol stations across the South East over the weekend.

Harvest Energy's managing director Franco Bussandri said: "We are very sympathetic to the plight of motorists who have been affected by this problem with unleaded petrol.

"We are working as closely as we can with our customers the retailers, to address such motorists' concerns.

"We would ask motorists who feel they may have been affected to contact their fuel retailer for advice."

Tesco is in the process of emptying unleaded petrol tanks in around 150 forecourts in the South East, and refilling them with fuel which had been tested and found uncontaminated with silicon.

According to the company, tests showed contamination peaked around seven days ago and levels have been diluted since then by deliveries of uncontaminated petrol, but on a "precautionary basis" tanks were being emptied and refilled.

It denied claims retailers knew about the issue some days before the problem became public but failed to inform motorists.

A spokeswoman for the company said: "There were sporadic reports of contamination before Wednesday but we didn't know the extent of the problem until then.

"If any consumer's car has been damaged as a result of filling up with Tesco petrol, then we will pay for that."

Morrisons said unleaded petrol tanks at 41 sites in the South East had been shut down, and would remain out of action this weekend.

The supermarket chain said it was still testing the fuel to see if it was contaminated, but assured consumers they would not be left out of pocket if a product sold to them had not been fit for purpose.

"We will do right by our customers," a spokesman said.

Asda said it was replacing unleaded petrol at the 30 forecourts in the South East which are supplied from the affected depot as a "precautionary measure".

Tests had shown only very low levels of silicon in Asda's fuel, but the supermarket giant said it would be running down the unleaded tanks at the sites and refilling them with new petrol over the weekend.

A spokeswoman said the process should be completed by Monday. Asda had its first call over fuel problems on Tuesday and had only received complaints from about 80 customers, she added.

The company said compensation would be paid if Asda was responsible for supplying the faulty product.

It is expected the supermarkets will in turn claim compensation from the suppliers.

The Trading Standards Institute (TSI) yesterday confirmed silicon had been found in stricken vehicles and said the presence of the chemical could indicate contamination with silicone, the anti-foaming agent used in diesel.

Experts fear the contaminant is damaging delicate oxygen sensors - causing engine management systems to switch to emergency settings.

Copyright Press Association 2007