Morrisons: Cars break down at forecourt after drivers fill up

A trip to fill up petrol turned into seven hours at the forecourt for Alaa Hassan

A supermarket petrol station forecourt was shut after drivers filled up and their cars subsequently broke down.

The faulty fuel problems were reported at the Morrisons forecourt off Aylestone Road, in Leicester, on Tuesday.

One customer said when they drained the fuel from her engine, shocked engineers said it "looked like tea".

Morrisons has apologised, saying contractors accidentally transferred "contaminated product" into the fuel.

A mechanic told the BBC in some cases, he found water in the fuel, which can seriously damage an engine and potentially lead to a car being written off.

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One of those affected was Alaa Hassan, 21, from Wigston, whose car broke down two miles down the road after filling up.

"I left my house just before 11:00 to get my Covid vaccine and on the way back I thought I would fill up petrol," she said.

"I always fill up there but I didn't think I would be there for over seven hours. It was just a nightmare day."

Miss Hassan said several other cars that had broken down were brought back to the forecourt

Maxine Glendinning, 40, from Wigston, said her mum's Suzuki broke down after she put diesel in it at about 13:30 BST.

She said as they drove into the petrol station, it was "chaos", with lanes closed and workmen standing around.

But she was still able to fill up and broke down less than two miles away on Saffron Lane.

"The AA told me they had at least 20 phone calls in one hour," she said.

"I know people were still getting fuel at 16:00 and still breaking down so they were still selling it."

'It's mad'

Charlotte Sullivan, 27, added her car broke down "just round the corner from Morrisons".

She said: "I got towed to a garage and that's when they took out the fuel tank and poured it into a jug and it was just brown.

"They were shocked. He said it looked like someone had put a cup of tea in there."

Mechanic Luke Cook, from the company Wrong Fuel Solution, said he was called out to three cars that had broken down.

He added: "When we arrived at the petrol station there were cars on the exit, cars on the slip road out, five cars in the petrol station and within half a mile of it, we saw four others broken down.

"A man from the AA was saying it's mad."

Miss Hassan said she tried her best to warn others after she got towed back to the forecourt to have the fuel drained

A spokeswoman for Morrisons said: "We are really sorry for the disruption caused to customers.

"A contractor completing maintenance work on our tanks accidently transferred some contaminated product into a live tank.

"We reacted immediately and shut off the pumps - we are currently investigating what caused the issue.

"Any customers who were unfortunately impacted should take any receipts to the customer service desk at the store and they will help them."

She added the petrol station is now back open and running.

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