Miss-filling fuel tanks still a major problem – and expensive!

Monday, 2. August 2010

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Warnings have come out again from the AA who have reported a 6% increase in callouts for miss-fuelling during the first 6 months of 2010. It all seemed to have settled down last year as filling stations made sure that pumps were more clearly marked and manufacturers made it more obvious as to what fuel needed to be pumped into the tank. But for no apparent reason we have suddenly had this increase. The AA have suggested that it could have been extreme weather or election fever! Yeah right. Of course it might have been that the drivers thought it was Thursday, the petrol nozzle fitted more easily into their diesel tank or they thought they were driving a lorry, whatever the reason there were 28,000 incidents last year, that’s more than 150 per day. The minimum cost was £300 to get the tank drained and over £5,000 in some cases to repair damaged engines. An AA spokesman said that one reason could be the continued increase in business drivers taking diesels over petrol. Yep, more diesels on the road would do it, especially business users, as it seems they’re all dopey if we are to draw any conclusions from what the AA has to say. Drivers should beware as not all insurance companies cover miss-fuelling so check your policy if you think you may get distracted and fill up your diesel with petrol. Have you or anyone you know miss-fuelled? Please share the experience. By Graham Hill