Misfuelling On The Increase As Drivers Switch To Petrol
Friday, 13. July 2018
With so many drivers switching from diesel to petrol, often after many years of driving a diesel car, the AA is reporting an increase in misfuelling callouts. The majority of callouts are from company vehicle drivers, accounting for 59% with consumers accounting for 41%.
Not all were for petrol cars being topped up with diesel, many were the other way round but the majority was a result of changes in company car policy or attitude of consumers towards diesel vehicles. I must say that after many years of topping my car up at the local Tesco filling station and automatically knowing that the diesel pump was the one on the far right.
In their wisdom they decided to change the pumps for new ones with the new pumps having the diesel nozzle on the far left. I didn’t do it myself but it caused many drivers to top up from the wrong pump through not paying attention. The AA offers a fuel assist programme for just this purpose, probably not a bad thing to take, especially if you are moving from one fuel to another.
The AA put down the mistake to drivers being pre-occupied, driving an unfamiliar car or visiting an unfamiliar filling station. So if you are about to change from one fuel to another make sure you don’t misfuel, if you do don’t start your car and lastly don’t even move it as this can cause all sorts of problems. By Graham Hill
