Petrol Stations Fuel Mix Up - Contamination

LS1_2

Hello!

Can anybody help me?! -

Jist of story - Petrol station had wrong fuel in pump and caused me to fill up with diesal instead of petrol. I have suffered lots of consquential losses directly due to this. No one is taking responsibilty for the wrong fuel being in the tank and I am seriously out of pocket.

In early October I filled up at a petrol station and put 3/4 tank of (what I thought was) unlead fuel into my car.
I was on my way from Bristol to Nottingham with my daughter to see Cheryl Cole in concert. I got 1 mile down the road and broke down.
After some real drama I managed to get a friend to take my daughter to the concert so she wouldn't miss out whilst I sorted the car.
It turns out that the tanker driver had put diesal into the petrol tank of the station, so whilst I used the correct pump and my receipt said unleaded, it was diesal in my car.
I followed the procedure as set out my the garage manager and got the RAC to drain my car the next day and kept all of my receipts. I was then advised to send them to the Area Manager of the garage who would be over seeing the claim.
The garage manager told me to claim for everything I ended up paying out for which I wouldn't have if it didn't happen, and to put in a claim for compensation.

I am over £400 down (cost of fuel drain by RAC, 1/4 tank petrol already in car, £35 of diesal I put in thinking it was unleaded), not to mention the hotel and tickets for Nottingham which I didn't get to use, and paying for a friends petrol and food to take my daughter to the concert and stay in Nottingham.

After 6 weeks of writing letters to every man and his dog, no one is taking responsibility for this incident!
The garage's insurance company have said they will only cover the cost of the fuel drain and diesal I mistakenly put in my car - they won't cover our consequential losses or pay compensation for the pure agony they have caused. They won't even pay for the petrol that was already in my tank that was subsequently contaminated or to get my car checked out by a garage to make sure it won't suffer long term effects.

The insurance company said it's the fault of the delivery tanker company, the tanker company said it's down the the garage, and the garage is now saying it's not even owned by the chain; it's franchised. Who the hells fault is it and who is going to pay me the money I'm owed?!
I have not yet accepted the refund for the fuel drain because I think this offer is absolutley disgusting, so I have been out of pocket for almost two months now, which is seriously started to affect me coming up to Christmas.

I cannot explain the drama and upset that it has caused, not to mention that I didn't get to go with my daughter to watch the concert which we had front row seats to! My car is only two years old and Ford have told me that it could suffer all sorts of long term damage because I drove with the wrong fuel it in.

I have contacted citizens advice and they have passed it along to trading standards, but once more this is going to take weeks of batting back and forth to get anywhere.

Does anyone have any advice that they can give me on this?

I'd be really grateful if someone could help. :(

daveyjp

Why not just submit a 7 day letter before action outlining all your losses, then if they fail to play ball go down the small claims track against the garage?

LS1_2

daveyjp wrote: »

Why not just submit a 7 day letter before action outlining all your losses, then if they fail to play ball go down the small claims track against the garage?

Thanks for replying. My worry is that they are a big chain with insurance companies etc, and I'll be the one who comes of worst if it goes to small claims - it's timely and expensive etc so if I don't win I'd be screwed.
They said that they won't pay for the hotel or tickets or anything, as they were utilised. Yes, but not by me!

Joe_Horner

The fault from, your perspective as the customer, lies with the garage owners (NOT their insurance company). You bought a product off them which was mis-supplied and that's what's caused your losses.

So your claim is against the garage itself - if their insurance won't cover it then they have to pay out of their own money. It's then up to them to recover their losses from the insurers / oil company / tanker company / Father Christmas / whoever.

You may have to start a small claims case to get it resolved because they'll no doubt try to bounce you round the houses like they already are.

eta: your hotel and ticket (not your daughter's - that was used as planned) are a slight complication. I'd suggest that, as you say, they were not used by you and that they wouldn't have been used if you hadn't managed to get a third party to step in. That was done to mitigate the total losses involved - your friend's use of them prevented your daughter's ticket and hotel also being wasted.

Hintza

Small claims isn't expensive. But it might be hassle.

I'm not sure about the tickets, especially if someone else used them.

LS1_2

Joe_Horner wrote: »

The fault from, your perspective as the customer, lies with the garage owners (NOT their insurance company). You bought a product off them which was mis-supplied and that's what's caused your losses.

So your claim is against the garage itself - if their insurance won't cover it then they have to pay out of their own money. It's then up to them to recover their losses from the insurers / oil company / tanker company / Father Christmas / whoever.

You may have to start a small claims case to get it resolved because they'll no doubt try to bounce you round the houses like they already are.

eta: your hotel and ticket (not your daughter's - that was used as planned) are a slight complication. I'd suggest that, as you say, they were not used by you and that they wouldn't have been used if you hadn't managed to get a third party to step in. That was done to mitigate the total losses involved - your friend's use of them prevented your daughter's ticket and hotel also being wasted.

Thank you so much for your help. You certainly seem to know what you're talking about.
That was my other query, if I take it to small claims then who is my case even against! No one wants to get involved it's terrible.
Citizens Advice believe that I had a case, but did stress that consquential losses are hard to get.
I just find it disgraceful that a large billion pound profit organisation won't accept their wrong doing and pay out.

The conseqential losses aren't even about the money any more, it's the upset and frustration that was added to an already terrible situation.
AND my car hasn't been right since!

Really appreciate your advise on this

Andy_L

Does you car/house/breakdown insurance have an uninsured loss recovery service included? In which case they will chase it for you

steve-L

Hintza wrote: »

Small claims isn't expensive. But it might be hassle.

It is equally hassle to the Defendant.

The cost is based on how much you claim. You add his to the total owed and add interest.

I would suggest the garage is to blame, their pump, they took payment. The rest (their insurance, tanker driver etc.) is THEIR problem not yours.

The small claims track is not too complex but you need to follow process. You might try legalbeagles for better legal advice.

The main point of small claims from a Claimant perspective is its far more costly for the Defendant, especially if they are a business.

You need to do everything in WRITING.
Second it needs to be by the book and likely the 'book' as viewed by a rather crusty old judge.

1) First off, your post has several spelling errors, diesel is mis-spelled 4 times. Its unleaded not unlead.... and absolutely not absolutley .....

I point this out as a crusty old judge may let it taint his/her view.....the point I'm making is make sure everything is correct (including spelling and grammar)! I realise this is just a post on MSE not your actual court papers.

2) Do it in writing, phone calls are not worth the paper they are written on! If you need to rely on this in court it would be you said .... he said .... so think about the WEIGHT of any evidence. if the garage told you over the phone send a registered letter summarising the conversation.

"Following our conversation of xx/yy/2012 I understand that....."

3) The point of small claims track is actually not to go to court... the process is meant to give the Defendant every opportunity to pay or reach a mutual compromise.
The main thing as a Claimant is you need to 'not be nice but business like'. I personally found his quite difficult to do as I prefer to avoid conflict. In other words, this means you need to make the Defendant know YOU WILL GO THROUGH WITH IT or they may view it as an empty threat, expect you to back off or get tired.
You need to be insistent that they put things in writing, even if that seems somewhat antagonistic.

4) You are required to minimise costs for the Defendant as much as possible. The easy example is if you need to hire a car then you hire the cheapest not the Mercedes convertible.
Your story sounds like you did everything reasonable, add your friends petrol, hotel and food. Send a letter (by hand) saying thank you and include detailed payment for his/her expenses incurred. (If it goes into the small claims track at one point you need to submit evidence and this would be one such piece of evidence).

In all likelihood there a quite a few people who suffered and the garage will be trying to minimise its losses. Imagine of the owner had to take a day off to attend court for each of say 50 cases?
It seems likely they would settle ....

It is their problem to recoup costs from insurance or the tanker company not yours.

Use companies house to find the owner of the franchise using the free web search, their legal office address etc.

LS1_2

steve-L wrote: »

It is equally hassle to the Defendant.

Hi,

Thank you for this.
I have got lots in writing and have sent copies via email/recorded delivery. It just seems to have gotten to a really messy place which is making it impossible to get answers out of anyone.
I was trying to avoid small claims but it does look like this is going to have to be my next option. And hopefully like you said just the threat will be enough to make them sit up.
You're right, I think around 20 other cars were affected but I don't know for sure.

Apologies for the grammar, I was more concerned on not being caught on MSE by my boss whilst I was hurriedly throwing this out!
Everything I have, I'd like to say, is professional and written well, and address all issues to the point.
Looks like I'll be after some legal help to put this together.

What a nightmare!

Thank you for your advice

steve-L

LS1 wrote: »

Hi,

Thank you for this.
I have got lots in writing and have sent copies via email/recorded delivery. It just seems to have gotten to a really messy place which is making it impossible to get answers out of anyone.
I was trying to avoid small claims but it does look like this is going to have to be my next option. And hopefully like you said just the threat will be enough to make them sit up.
You're right, I think around 20 other cars were affected but I don't know for sure.

Apologies for the grammar, I was more concerned on not being caught on MSE by my boss whilst I was hurriedly throwing this out!
Everything I have, I'd like to say, is professional and written well, and address all issues to the point.
Looks like I'll be after some legal help to put this together.

What a nightmare!

Thank you for your advice

No need to apologise for the grammar. I just wanted to point out the district court judges are a fickle lot.
My cousin is a solicitor and his advice was that small claims can go either way, its always a risk and depends which side of the bed the judge got out of bed on.... BUT that its way cheaper for the Claimant who has nothing to lose and expensive for the Defendant who has everything to lose.

Hopefully you write a FINAL LETTER BEFORE LEGAL ACTION and they might just pay....
If not you file it with the county court and they have 2 weeks...you pay about £30 if I remember..... this is added to the money owed to you.

The further it goes the more they have to lose.

Mine went as far as court and they were still living in fantasy land.
Prior to the actual hearing the judge asked what mediation we had and then asked if we wanted time to mediate.
I replied yes (the theoretically correct answer)... the Defendant (used car dealer) said No... as he thought it was clear cut and a waste of his time.... the crusty old judge then counselled him to try mediation as he would find the case on its merits and he didn't think it would be 'clear cut'.
As it happened they caved before the actual hearing and I got back £2000/£3000 as a compromise... £500 of this was additional costs they caused so they lost out £500 just by messing about and not giving me my money.

LS1_2

Andy_L wrote: »

Does you car/house/breakdown insurance have an uninsured loss recovery service included? In which case they will chase it for you

I'm not sure..I will look into this. Will it count as a claim?!