Tesco apologises to customers over Bangor 'fuel contamination'

Tesco has apologised to customers after a "possible fuel contamination" at a filling station in Bangor in County Down.

A number of customers contacted BBC Radio Ulster's The Nolan Show to say their cars had broken down on Saturday after using pumps at Bloomfield.

One said she was told the next day that a tanker had mistakenly filled unleaded pumps with diesel.

So far, about 75 customers have contacted Tesco over the incident.

On Tuesday, the supermarket giant said it was investigating what had happened.

It is understood that the contaminated fuel was sold between mid-morning and early afternoon on Saturday and two of the six tanks were contaminated.

Tesco said that on receiving reports of the possible contamination it closed its Bangor fuel station

Fuel samples were removed and tested by external consultants.

"We are aware of an issue with the unleaded fuel being sold from our Bangor store on Saturday afternoon," Tesco said in a statement.

"We are investigating what happened and would like to apologise to any inconvenienced customers.

"We are in the process of contacting all customers who have come forward to say that they have been affected by the incident.

"Where we are found to have been at fault we will, of course, cover the reasonable costs of any repairs needed to customers' vehicles as a direct result of the incident."

Danielle, who contacted the Nolan Show, said initially she did not know what was wrong with her car.

"Sunday, one o'clock in the morning, out with the AA trying to get my car fixed," she said.

"I'm 22-weeks' pregnant, so being out at one o'clock in the morning trying to get my car fixed - which took about an hour - wasn't great, obviously the stress of having to deal with it all, wondering how I'm going to get the kids to school, get to work myself."

She said the next morning there was a post on a local community Facebook page to say what had happened.

Danielle said she contacted the Tesco customer helpline and was told they would have to investigate.

"I was in store on Sunday afternoon, and the girl who worked there was actually a lot more helpful than their helpline was and explained that the unleaded tanker that was there was filled with diesel and filled all the pumps full of it," she said.

"There were loads of people in, they were giving out contact numbers for people to drain their cars - they were a lot more helpful.

"I still had to pay 200-odd pounds to get it fixed.

"Apparently it was from 11 o'clock that morning, that's what the girl in the store said and I think they closed the pump later on that evening."

Another customer, Brian from Bangor, said he had bought a new car on Friday and filled it on Saturday after shopping at the Tesco store.

"I was driving my lovely new car home - it's about a mile journey - I got home it spluttered to a stop and wouldn't restart," he said

He said he contacted the dealer where he bought the car and accused them of "selling me a dud".

"They took the car back to the garage and called me yesterday and said they had detected diesel in the petrol," Brian said.

He said that when he went back to Tesco the lane where he had got his petrol from was closed, and staff told him there had been contamination of the unleaded fuel on Saturday.

Kim, from Bangor, told the Nolan Show that after she contacted Tesco they arranged to send someone out to drain her petrol tank.

She said she was then given a bill for £175 "even though Tesco organised that".

Tesco said customers who used the Bangor store fuel station on Saturday afternoon and think they were affected should contact its customer service centre on 0800 505555.

Tesco added: "We have no reason to believe any other Tesco stores have been affected.

"We are working with our local fuel haulier to understand how this situation could have occurred."