Contaminated Petrol - Update

Trading Standards Officers across the South East have been continuing their investigations into what caused the recent petrol contamination problem that hit the region. The contaminated fuel, which particularly affected motorists buying their petrol at Asda, Morrisons and Tesco, has been traced back to a storage depot in West Thurrock, where tanks have been found to contain high levels of silicon.

Oxygen sensors from affected cars have also been sent for laboratory examination to test for the presence of silicon dioxide deposits. The investigations are still on-going, and further sample results are still awaited.

Trading Standards staff in the South East have been working with Asda, Morrisons and Tesco to ensure that members of the public are kept fully informed. Asda are asking people affected to call their Customer Service line on 0845 300 1111 and promise to re-imburse affected claimants in full. Tesco have published an apology in newspapers, set up a team to deal with complaints and published a helpline number on their website, which is 0800 028 6428. Morrisons have issued a an apology, have set up procedures for dealing with complaints, and ask people to call their Customer Service line on 0845 611 6111 for further advice.

Steve Johnson, Trading Standards Manager said "Anyone affected by this issue who needs further advice should contact either ourselves or the governments' Consumer Direct service. Reports suggest that we can again have confidence in the fuel offered by supermarkets, but Trading Standards officers here and around the country remain vigilant and are still closely monitoring the situation".

Members of the public can contact Trading Standards on 01628 683802 and Consumer Direct on 08454 040506.

Date of release: 2007-03-09