News / National
Contaminated fuel leaves motorists stranded
09 Feb 2015 at 09:47hrs | Views
MORE than 20 motorists were left stranded last Wednesday after filling contaminated fuel at Trek Service Station along Chiremba Road in Hatfield.
Police moved swiftly to control the situation as motorists towed their cars to the service station baying for the manager's blood.
To make matters worse, the service station runs without a water finder paste and they could not check if the truck registration (ABN 5262) trailer registration (ACQ 9833) that delivered the fuel had not been contaminated.
The driver of the truck, Temba Gwegweduka told H-Metro that he collected 30 000 litres fuel from their NOCZIM depot in Msasa and delivered it to six service stations.
"I delivered loads to six Trek service stations and it is only here where people are complaining. I delivered 6000 litres," said Temba.
"Had it been my fuel, other service stations where I offloaded could have faced the same situation but there are no other reports except here to show that their tanks are the ones which are contaminated.
"I only delivered petrol but other motorists here are complaining of their cars, which use diesel," he added.
One of the managers only identified as Shepherd addressed the motorists and asked them to call their own motor mechanics so as to drain the tanks before filling with proper fuel.
"I am really sorry guys with this mishap, bear with us I want to believe our petrol attendants failed to properly close the tanks and exposed them to rain," said Shepherd.
"You can call your motor mechanics so that they attend to you and we pay them before giving you replacement fuel," he said.
One of the affected motorists Joseph Muvangwa, who was driving a brand new BMW X5, was stranded after his car developed a mechanical fault some meters from the service station.
"They are going to pay me for hiring a car to tow my car back to this service station since they admitted selling petrol mixed with water," said Joseph.
Shepherd allowed motorists to leave their details since it was late around 11pm and promised to deal with every car after the mechanics were called to attend.
Police moved swiftly to control the situation as motorists towed their cars to the service station baying for the manager's blood.
To make matters worse, the service station runs without a water finder paste and they could not check if the truck registration (ABN 5262) trailer registration (ACQ 9833) that delivered the fuel had not been contaminated.
The driver of the truck, Temba Gwegweduka told H-Metro that he collected 30 000 litres fuel from their NOCZIM depot in Msasa and delivered it to six service stations.
"I delivered loads to six Trek service stations and it is only here where people are complaining. I delivered 6000 litres," said Temba.
"Had it been my fuel, other service stations where I offloaded could have faced the same situation but there are no other reports except here to show that their tanks are the ones which are contaminated.
"I only delivered petrol but other motorists here are complaining of their cars, which use diesel," he added.
One of the managers only identified as Shepherd addressed the motorists and asked them to call their own motor mechanics so as to drain the tanks before filling with proper fuel.
"I am really sorry guys with this mishap, bear with us I want to believe our petrol attendants failed to properly close the tanks and exposed them to rain," said Shepherd.
"You can call your motor mechanics so that they attend to you and we pay them before giving you replacement fuel," he said.
One of the affected motorists Joseph Muvangwa, who was driving a brand new BMW X5, was stranded after his car developed a mechanical fault some meters from the service station.
"They are going to pay me for hiring a car to tow my car back to this service station since they admitted selling petrol mixed with water," said Joseph.
Shepherd allowed motorists to leave their details since it was late around 11pm and promised to deal with every car after the mechanics were called to attend.
Source - H-Metro
