CANBERRA: Dodgy fuel caused breakdowns en masse on an Australian motorway on Thursday morning.
Two dozen cars spluttered to a halt on the M4 Motorway in Sydney during peak hour, after filling up at a nearby Caltex petrol station with water-affected fuel. All of the vehicle owners had recently filled their tanks with the ethanol-based E10 fuel.
Caltex advised the issue was confined to the one petrol station, and it believed the issue stemmed from water leaking into the tanks, according to a statement emailed to Mashable Australia.
“Caltex shut down the pumps for that product as soon as the issue was known. The problem is isolated to the E10 product at this site only – there are no other products or sites affected,” it said.
Roadside assistance company NRMA responded to calls from the scene and sent out tow trucks to assist the stranded drivers, along with a patrol car to assist Caltex in shutting down the affected bowser.
Spokesperson Peter Khoury told Mashable Australia it appears water damage to tanks is the cause of the mishap and by the time the team arrived at the incident, “the damage had been done.”
He said it was a rare issue, but he has seen it happen before and due to past cases, it was clear straight away it was due to contaminated fuel.
“[Our customers] were obviously frustrated that this had occurred,” he said. “It doesn’t happen very often but when it does it can be quite dramatic. It does happen from time-to-time, and it normally happens after heavy rain.”
Khoury said the fuel tanks would need to be drained, and the damage could be costly. “The process to fix the car is quite extensive, you have to drain the tank and in some cases remove it. They may even have to replace some parts,” he said.
Luckily, Caltex is coming to the table, saying they will refund any money spent by car owners. “Caltex is sorry for the inconvenience to customers and will fully reimburse them for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred as a result of the fuel,” the company said in a statement.
