2007 UK petrol contamination
Encyclopedia
South East England
South East England is one of the nine official regions of England, designated in 1994 and adopted for statistical purposes in 1999. It consists of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, East Sussex, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire, Surrey and West Sussex...
reported that their cars were breaking down. This was caused by silicon-contaminated unleaded petrol, sold by several supermarket
Supermarket
A supermarket, a form of grocery store, is a self-service store offering a wide variety of food and household merchandise, organized into departments...
s, that damaged the oxygen sensors in engine management systems
Engine Control Unit
An engine control unit is a type of electronic control unit that determines the amount of fuel, ignition timing and other parameters an internal combustion engine needs to keep running...
.
The problem
On 28 February 2007 motorists in South East EnglandSouth East England
South East England is one of the nine official regions of England, designated in 1994 and adopted for statistical purposes in 1999. It consists of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, East Sussex, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire, Surrey and West Sussex...
reported that their cars were breaking down. Motorists blamed supermarket
Supermarket
A supermarket, a form of grocery store, is a self-service store offering a wide variety of food and household merchandise, organized into departments...
petrol
Gasoline
Gasoline , or petrol , is a toxic, translucent, petroleum-derived liquid that is primarily used as a fuel in internal combustion engines. It consists mostly of organic compounds obtained by the fractional distillation of petroleum, enhanced with a variety of additives. Some gasolines also contain...
with most of the fuel sold by the supermarkets in the South East coming from the Vopak
Vopak
Royal Vopak N.V. is a Dutch company that stores and handles various oil and natural gas-related products. The company was created by the merger of Van Ommeren and Pakhoed in 1999. In 2002, the distribution of oil and natural gas related products was split off; a new company Univar was created for...
terminal in the Thames Estuary
Thames Estuary
The Thames Mouth is the estuary in which the River Thames meets the waters of the North Sea.It is not easy to define the limits of the estuary, although physically the head of Sea Reach, near Canvey Island on the Essex shore is probably the western boundary...
. Harvest Energy, which supplies Asda
Asda
Asda Stores Ltd is a British supermarket chain which retails food, clothing, general merchandise, toys and financial services. It also has a mobile telephone network, , Asda Mobile...
, shares tank facilities at the depot in West Thurrock with another oil company, Greenergy
Greenergy
Founded as a bedroom start-up in 1992, Greenergy has grown rapidly to become one of the UK’s largest road fuel suppliers, supplying about one fifth of the UK’s fuel....
, which is part-owned by Tesco
Tesco
Tesco plc is a global grocery and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Cheshunt, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest retailer in the world measured by revenues and the second-largest measured by profits...
and supplies both Tesco and Morrisons
Morrisons
Wm Morrison Supermarkets plc is the fourth largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom, headquartered in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The company is usually referred to and is branded as Morrisons formerly Morrison's, and it is part of the FTSE 100 Index of companies...
.
Then on the evening of 2 March scientists who had been testing the petrol reported finding traces of silicon
Silicon
Silicon is a chemical element with the symbol Si and atomic number 14. A tetravalent metalloid, it is less reactive than its chemical analog carbon, the nonmetal directly above it in the periodic table, but more reactive than germanium, the metalloid directly below it in the table...
in the fuel which were subsequently tracked down to four storage tanks by Harvest Energy.
Morrisons
Morrisons
Wm Morrison Supermarkets plc is the fourth largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom, headquartered in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The company is usually referred to and is branded as Morrisons formerly Morrison's, and it is part of the FTSE 100 Index of companies...
immediately announced that it was to stop selling unleaded petrol at 41 outlets supplied by the Vopak terminal while Tesco
Tesco
Tesco plc is a global grocery and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Cheshunt, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest retailer in the world measured by revenues and the second-largest measured by profits...
was emptying and refilling tanks at 150 petrol stations but was not suspending sales. The following day Asda
Asda
Asda Stores Ltd is a British supermarket chain which retails food, clothing, general merchandise, toys and financial services. It also has a mobile telephone network, , Asda Mobile...
said it was replacing unleaded petrol at the 30 forecourts in the South East as a "precautionary measure".
By Sunday, 4 March, tests from Tesco and Asda had found contamination of silicon in unleaded fuel.
The cause
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and TradersSociety of Motor Manufacturers and Traders
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders is the trade association for the United Kingdom motor industry. It "promote the interests of the UK automotive industry at home and abroad".-History:...
(SMMT) said it believed suspect fuel might have damaged oxygen sensors in some cars' systems, leading them to cut power to prevent damage to the engine. Silicon products are used as 'anti-foaming agents' in diesel fuel, but even very small quantities can cause serious problems in petrol engines.
Consequences
Tesco was criticised with claims that they had been alerted to the problem as early as 12 February. Affected motorists faced bills of several hundred pounds to repair their cars and, with up to 10,000 cars needing repair, the suppliers could be liable for compensation claims of up to £10 million. On 4 March it was announced that a class actionClass action
In law, a class action, a class suit, or a representative action is a form of lawsuit in which a large group of people collectively bring a claim to court and/or in which a class of defendants is being sued...
, on behalf of affected motorists, would be mounted.
Trading Standards
Trading Standards Institute
The Trading Standards Institute is the professional association which represents trading standards professionals in the UK and overseas.-History:...
officials advised motorists to keep petrol receipts, take a sample of the fuel, obtain quotes from garages for repair costs and approach the petrol station where the fuel was purchased. Then, on 6 March, Morrisons and Tesco offered to pay for any damage caused by the faulty petrol and Tesco printed full page apologies in many national newspapers.
A further consequence was a rise in petrol prices charged by traditional petrol companies, of up to 4p per litre, across the country. An AA
The Automobile Association
The Automobile Association , a British motoring association founded in 1905 was demutualised in 1999 to become a private limited company which currently provides car insurance, driving lessons, breakdown cover, loans and motoring advice, and other services...
spokesman said "Putting up prices to make a fast buck is completely unjustified. Sometimes garages increase the price to protect stocks from a sudden run. But if anyone has upped the price outside the areas where the problems have been then they are milking the system.". However, the UK Petroleum Industry Association replied "There is no profiteering. Oil products are priced to the market. Pump prices are usually linked to the price of crude oil or the wholesale price of petrol.".