Fuelish Mistake

	Call-outs to the AA for misfuelling have increased from around 20,000 a year in 1999, to 60,000 currently

You probably think it takes some kind of motoring moron to put the wrong fuel in a car. But you’d be wrong. More than 150,000 people do it every year, according to the latest figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.

And the consequences can be dire. Driving on petrol, when you should be running on diesel, could wreck your engine, and leave you with a bill of thousands of pounds to replace it. Then there’s the hassle of losing your wheels for days while the problem is fixed.

That’s why the AA has just launched a new mobile rescue service for misfuellers. Patrols arrive at the roadside in a special van with kit that will suck the wrong fuel out of your car, and replace it with the right stuff to get you going again. Sound too good to be true?

To find out, Auto Express teamed up with one of the firm’s technicians for a final trial before the scheme went nationwide. We’re at the Mill Hill filling station in North London, and don’t have to wait long before Tony Carpenter, one of seven patrols testing the AA’s new Fuel Assist service, gets his first call of the day. A man in Stevenage, Herts, is stranded at home with a Ford Focus Estate he has filled with petrol instead of diesel. Tony jumps into the van, punches the customer’s postcode into his sat-nav, and heads off up the A1 with us in hot pursuit.

When we arrive, a sheepish Roy Peatling greets us with a smile. “I can’t believe how quickly you got here. I’m such an idiot,” he says. As with many of the 6,000 misfuelling motorists the AA’s new team has rescued in the year-long trial, a momentary lapse of concentration was all it took for Roy to pick up the wrong nozzle at the pumps.

“My car takes diesel and the wife’s runs on petrol. I just wasn’t thinking,” he admits. “It was only when I went to pay that I realised what I’d done.” But it’s much easier to make the mistake this way around, says Tony. He explains: “You can only do it that way because the fuel filler neck is bigger on diesels. So unless you force it, a diesel nozzle should be too big to fit into a petrol car.”

Fortunately, quick-thinking Roy had the car towed off the forecourt, and remembered not to start the engine. Our panel shows the potential damage that can be caused if he had. Instead, Tony reassures him that he can be back on the road within half-an-hour.

With that, Tony swings open the van doors to reveal what resembles a brewer’s distilling kit – complete with a clear, bulbous section to view the swirling fuel as it’s pumped into the system (the best bit), and a button for ‘decanting’ it into a sealed container. The AA man pulls on a pair of chemistry lab goggles, attaches a couple of hoses to Roy’s fuel line, and he’s ready. All we have to do now is sit and wait. “It can take from 30 minutes to an hour-and-a-half to empty the car’s tank,” Tony explains. “It depends how full it is, and on its design. Some are more tricky than others.”

Fortunately for Roy, the job’s done in under an hour. Tony dismantles the tubes then grabs one of the spare fuel cans he has stashed in the back of the van and tops up Roy’s tank with enough diesel to get him back on the road. He tries the ignition. It starts first time. “That’s unbelievable,” Roy beams. “I can get on with the other stuff I have to do today. I really thought my car was going to be out of action for days!”

At £176 for each member rescued, Roy admits the service isn’t cheap, but says: “It’s still better than the time and cost involved if I’d had to take my car to a garage to fix. I wouldn’t even have known where to go to get this done.” Non-AA members can still tap into the service, but their one-off fee is slightly more expensive at just under £200.

As we’re packing up, the phone rings again. This time it’s to rescue a BT engineer at a BP filling station forecourt in Amersham, Bucks. Scott Ashwin, who lives locally, was mortified when he realised he’d misfuelled. “My own car, a BMW M3, takes unleaded, and I just wasn’t concentrating. It didn’t help that the premium nozzle is the same colour as the diesel – they’re both green!”

Tony helps him push his work van away from the pumps, so he can work on it uninterrupted. Half-an-hour later, the tank’s empty, and clean fuel is poured back in. Scott can’t believe his luck. “I’ve already had my boss on the phone three times this morning wondering where I am. I thought I was going to be out of work all day – but now I can get back to it.”

Calls have been coming in thick and fast while we’ve been helping Scott get back on the road. But we’re slightly surprised that none of these is from a stranded woman. However, the AA’s technical performance and training manager Donald MacSporran isn’t. He says it’s actually a typical day, as the vast majority of their calls are from men.

But couldn’t these drivers claim on their insurance? Yes, according to Donald. But he says most don’t. “You could claim under accidental damage under a comprehensive policy, as it’s similar to driving through a puddle and getting water in your engine. But in reality, most people would have to pay out a few hundred pounds under their policy excess anyway, so they usually don’t bother.”

That’s true of Ian Walker, of Bishop’s Stortford, Herts, our last stop of the day. He’s marooned at a Total Garage in St Albans when his call comes through. He blames his brand new company car, a Peugeot 407 SW, on his misfuelling mishap. “It’s the first time I’ve filled it up!” he moans. “I’ve had a petrol-fuelled car for the past three years. Luckily, the staff here had Fuel Assist’s number.”

The pump attendants claim, as with the others we’ve visited, that misfuelling customers are rare. Staff at this Total station argue this is due to its clear, colour-coded nozzle system. But again, we notice premium and unleaded are both marked in green. And as Tony points out: “The only reason they had our contact details is because I’ve been to this site before!”

The number of misfuelling motorists in the UK is rising, too, according to the AA. In the past eight years, call-outs to the recovery service for this problem increased from around 20,000 a year, to about 60,000 currently.

Donald explains: “UK motorists are much more prone to making this mistake than anywhere else in Europe.” But he argues it’s easy to see why: “There’s been a growth in the number of diesel-engined cars sold in the UK. And a lot of households also have a number of vehicles, which could use a variety of different fuels.”

To cope with the demand, the firm says it’s increasing the size of its Fuel Assist team from seven to 20, just in time for Christmas. So, if you ever misfuel, it’s worth keeping the AA’s helpline number – 0870 240 3985 – in your wallet. They’ll be happy to help!