Contaminated fuel from BP leaves Ō taki drivers fuming

Motorists are complaining about their cars “rattling”, breaking down and dropping to low power after filling up at BP Ō taki, with the petrol provider confirming its 98 grade was contaminated.

BP has admitted the 98 grade supply at its Ō taki Connect petrol station was contaminated following a delivery on Tuesday [last week], affecting drivers who filled up between 7am and 3pm.

Ō taki used car dealer Thomas Horton said he filled up a Golf-R at about 10am. He realised something was wrong soon after, as he was driving to Paraparaumu.

“On the highway on the way down, it sort of started doing a bit of a hiccup and a little bit low on power,” he said, noting the lack of grunt was unusual for the turbo-powered vehicle.

“On the way back, pulled onto the expressway from Waikanae and then the car just did a really big shunt, kind of like a misfire, and just pulled back all the power. Halfway back from Waikanae to Ō taki started to hear a rattle under light throttle.”

BP said the problem was isolated to the 98 grade at the Ō taki station during the six-hour window on Tuesday.

However, BP did not answer RNZ’s questions about what substance had contaminated the 98, or how the contamination had happened. It also refused to comment on whether the problem had been fixed.

Horton took his car to the mechanics as soon as he got back.

“Kris jumped in the car with me and before we even got to the end of the driveway he said, ‘What fuel’s in the car?’.

“We got back to the workshop, pulled the fuel line off the rail, and yeah it was diesel.”

Other drivers also complained on social media about experiencing problems with their cars after filling up at BP Connect Ō taki on Tuesday [last week].

One said their car had a “rattle” after filling up, another said theirs had broken down after putting the new petrol in, while another said they had been starting on a road trip but after encountering the problem had to drain the newly filled tank to empty out all of the fuel. Two people reported a number of motorists had stopped at local mechanics workshops with similar problems.

BP did not confirm when it found out about the problem, or exactly when the pump was closed.

“Immediately upon identifying an issue, 98 supply was made unavailable,” a spokesperson said.

However, Horton said he went back to the petrol station at 11.30am, with a sample of the fuel.

“They basically said, ‘look it’s not us, we’ve had our pumps done this morning’,” he said.

“Then I went back over at about 3 o’clock, after we’d got the car sorted — fully drained the fuel, pushed more fuel, petrol, through the system as well to try and clean everything out, replaced the spark plugs in the vehicle because they were black from the diesel, and then went down to Mobil and then filled up with 98 from Mobil, took it for a drive and it started running okay.

“The response I got was ‘oh I don’t know what’s gone wrong but we don’t have an answer for you’ and I said ‘well you’re pumping . . . you should have turned them off’.”

Horton said he was told the pumps were turned off later that afternoon, after another customer complained. He lodged a claim through the company’s website and is yet to hear back.

BP said it was sorry for any inconvenience caused to customers.

“The quality of our fuel is extremely important to us and BP will compensate customers in any instances where there are proven fuel quality issues,” its spokesperson said.

“98 grade transactions are being investigated and we are proactively working with impacted customers to resolve this issue. Any customers who are concerned and who purchased 98 from BP Connect Otaki during this time period can also contact us on 0800 800 027.”

Horton said it would be an expensive fix.

The damage to his car, including the mechanic’s bill and the discarded petrol, was more than $850.

“We fuel probably 30, 40 cars a month there, so this is the first time that something’s happened, but for them to brush it off and keep the pumps open it’s not very impressive,” he said.

“We’re pretty lucky because I caught it within an hour of putting diesel in, you know. Luckily I knew what to do and so did Kris.”