Shell responsible for my misfuel - unleaded in diesel car standards non compliance

scooby75

Another_Sucker wrote: »

What good are the BSI and the standards covering the appearance of petrol pumps? What redress can I get from a company who claim to follow standards, but don't?

Driving my diesel car I went to a Shell garage to fill up. I saw a diesel pump. It was red white and black. Then I noticed that the next one was also red, white and black and was cheaper - so I filled up from that. But the second red, white and black pump contained unleaded.

I complained to Shell, who wrote "The predominant colours used for fuel grade branding on service stations across the U.K. industry are dictated by the relevant British Standards (BS EN228 and ...".

I read the standard, which recommends that unleaded pumps are coloured green. When I pointed out the discrepancy to Shell, they said I'd misunderstood their letter. It seems clear enough to me.

The standard also states that "For the purpose of this British standard the dispensing nozzle shall be predominantly coloured green forward of the grip". Mine was 95% red. And it states that "The minimum dimensions [of the petrol grade] shall be [15mm]. The dimensions on my pump were 12mm.

So Shell claim to follow a standard, whereas they clearly don't. The appearance of their pumps is out of line with all other major suppliers. But they don't care. Their marketing campaign for V-Max is more important than customers' health and safety.

What is the use of trading standards?
What are the statistics for mis-fuelling?
Do Shell have a higher rate than others?
What can be done about misrepresenting their compliance?
How should I seek redress? I've contacted the upper management of Shell, and they aren't interested.
I'm going to Watchdog and the Daily Telegraph etc
Does anyone know Jeremy Clarkson's email address?

"We can't have your safety interfering with our profits".

Nor can we have people who do not understand how to fill their car up properly dictating policy.

firstly, it is a standard, it is not legislation. There is no requirement for petrol companies to colour their hoses. They need only label them.

Secondly, how did you determine your pump to be 95% red? Do you realise the maths involved to determine a specific area like that? Did you get a ruler to measure the pump size as well?

Sorry, but you made an error, and blaming everyone else for it or pestering the all and sundry will get you nowhere.

wealdroam

Scooby, did you notice that this thread is four months old?



Princess2010 has a habit of dragging up old threads.

scooby75

Ooops! Sorry! I don't actually don't look at the date - perhaps I should do. Where's the embarrased smiley?

squeaky

Actually - if you'd looked at the post immediately before yours you would have seen yesterday's date. A couple of nonsense posts have since been removed by the Forum Team so it looks now as though you responded to an old post - but in fact you didn't - someone else was there first.

HTH

Diligent

Dear all, this is my first posting after finding this topic on this site.Whilst I can appreciate your comments regarding the original post, I am surprised at some of the the holier than thou comments posted.

I've been driving for over 40 years and have both petrol and diesel cars currently.
Have I ever mis-fuelled? Of course not! I always look at the pump, check for colour and doublecheck in the fuel window. What could possibly go wrong? I'm incredibly diligent when fuelling.

So if I'm incredibly diligent and have never ever misfield before how did I manage to do it recently? How did I manage to put petrol into a diesel tank resulting in a hefty bill from the AA to drain it?




Well, on the way home after a busy day out I stopped off at a petrol station to pick up a newspaper and decided to just top up the tank.
I was tired. I looked at the pump I looked at the window and was sure that I was putting the correct fuel into the car. As I finished putting the pump back I suddenly realised it was petrol.

I kept thinking how did I manage to do this? I've never mis- fuelled before. Luckily I knew about not even turning the ignition key, pushed the vehicle to a safe area and waited for the AA fuel specialist unit to arrive. Although there was no engine damage, it still cost me a bundle.
Speaking to my colleagues at work, a few admitted to mis-fuelling in the past and all mentioned it was at Shell.

Now, before everyone comes back and says it's my fault,
yes I agree - it was. The pump handle this colour-coded and it was labelled in the window in the pump. Hands up, fair cop!

But is it as straightforward as that? Unlike some petrol stations where there is a whacking pump for diesel and a whacking pump for petrol,Shell put four pumps in very close proximity dispensing regular and V power petrol and diesel. Again, the signs in the window next the digits show which fuel you are using.
I suddenly realised that all the
Shell petrol stations that I've used in the past have the first two pumps as unleaded with the two pumps to the right is being diesel.
In the petrol station where I mis-fuelled these were reversed.
I've almost exclusively been a customer Shell in the past. We are humans, we follow behaviours.
Yes, it was my fault.
But I was following a learned behaviour. So to all of those who never make mistakes, just be careful. Be warned!
The manager of the petrol station was absolutely brilliant.
He gave me free coffee and took my wife and son home in his car, a return journey of 14 miles and wouldn't accept anything in return. His help was beyond the call of duty.
I've told Shell.
The AA man told me that I was his fourth case of the day.
While I'm sure there is no requirement, it would be helpful if Shell tried to ensure consistency of its layout of the pumps so that unleaded is always left and diesel is always right.
Also, their labelling in the window could be clearer.
So, this is from someone who is always careful when fuelling,
who couldn't possibly make a mistake, but did.
We are all human
and I do think that petrol companies like Shell could help their customers by just ensuring consistent layout at pumps.
Although I've been loyal customer to Shell, I'm finding that I prefer the Esso service stations as the ones I've come across to date have very separate pumps for petrol and diesel. Mistakes could still happen I'm sure, but the risk is minimised.

cardinalbiggles

Another_Sucker wrote: »

The standard also states that "For the purpose of this British standard the dispensing nozzle shall be predomi

A red pump would immediately say to me it was petrol. I am only in my early 30's but that used to be the colour of 4* pumps.

Looksguywalker

cardinalbiggles wrote: »

A red pump would immediately say to me it was petrol. I am only in my early 30's but that used to be the colour of 4* pumps.

Green or black is what I see to be honest. Don't remember RED at all.

arcon5

Diligent wrote: »

Dear all, this is my first posting after finding this topic on this site.Whilst I can appreciate your comments regarding the original post, I am surprised at some of the the holier than thou comments posted.

I've been driving for over 40 years and have both petrol and diesel cars currently.
Have I ever mis-fuelled? Of course not! I always look at the pump, check for colour and doublecheck in the fuel window. What could possibly go wrong? I'm incredibly diligent when fuelling.

So if I'm incredibly diligent and have never ever misfield before how did I manage to do it recently? How did I manage to put petrol into a diesel tank resulting in a hefty bill from the AA to drain it?




Well, on the way home after a busy day out I stopped off at a petrol station to pick up a newspaper and decided to just top up the tank.
I was tired. I looked at the pump I looked at the window and was sure that I was putting the correct fuel into the car. As I finished putting the pump back I suddenly realised it was petrol.

I kept thinking how did I manage to do this? I've never mis- fuelled before. Luckily I knew about not even turning the ignition key, pushed the vehicle to a safe area and waited for the AA fuel specialist unit to arrive. Although there was no engine damage, it still cost me a bundle.
Speaking to my colleagues at work, a few admitted to mis-fuelling in the past and all mentioned it was at Shell.

Now, before everyone comes back and says it's my fault,
yes I agree - it was. The pump handle this colour-coded and it was labelled in the window in the pump. Hands up, fair cop!

But is it as straightforward as that? Unlike some petrol stations where there is a whacking pump for diesel and a whacking pump for petrol,Shell put four pumps in very close proximity dispensing regular and V power petrol and diesel. Again, the signs in the window next the digits show which fuel you are using.
I suddenly realised that all the
Shell petrol stations that I've used in the past have the first two pumps as unleaded with the two pumps to the right is being diesel.
In the petrol station where I mis-fuelled these were reversed.
I've almost exclusively been a customer Shell in the past. We are humans, we follow behaviours.
Yes, it was my fault.
But I was following a learned behaviour. So to all of those who never make mistakes, just be careful. Be warned!
The manager of the petrol station was absolutely brilliant.
He gave me free coffee and took my wife and son home in his car, a return journey of 14 miles and wouldn't accept anything in return. His help was beyond the call of duty.
I've told Shell.
The AA man told me that I was his fourth case of the day.
While I'm sure there is no requirement, it would be helpful if Shell tried to ensure consistency of its layout of the pumps so that unleaded is always left and diesel is always right.
Also, their labelling in the window could be clearer.
So, this is from someone who is always careful when fuelling,
who couldn't possibly make a mistake, but did.
We are all human
and I do think that petrol companies like Shell could help their customers by just ensuring consistent layout at pumps.
Although I've been loyal customer to Shell, I'm finding that I prefer the Esso service stations as the ones I've come across to date have very separate pumps for petrol and diesel. Mistakes could still happen I'm sure, but the risk is minimised.

Yes - yes it is!

david39

When I was in the retail petrol industry, the colour of the pump was irrelevant. Although diesel pumps were usually black, petrol pumps were in the livery of the petrol company. This pracrice went out of the window when multi-hose pumps that dispensed all grades of fuel were introduced. The pumps are usually in the supplying company's brand livery.

However, there was a legal requirement that diesel fuel was dispensed through black hoses, unleaded petrol through green hoses and leaded petrol through red hoses.

To the best of my knowledge, those restrictions still apply and they do seem to be operative on all the stations from which I buy petrol.

Make sure you pick up the correct colour hose, you'll get the fuel you expect - even so, I still check in the pump display window!

Diligent

arcon5 wrote: »

Yes - yes it is!

If it is I just wonder how it is that 150 000 people are reported as misfuelling each year? The number is likely to be high for non-reported cases.

Until I'd misfuelled maybe I would have taken your stance...

Qusetion is whether the petrol companies can do anything simple to assist their customers and their learned behaviours. A consitent layout?