When granite businessman Mohammed Mujahid (32) stopped at a Shell fuel station on Kanakapura Road at 11.30 p.m. on Wednesday to fill diesel, little did he expect that his car would stop on the highway a few hundred metres away.
After service technicians failed to reach the spot due to the pouring rain, he returned to the fuel station to see if he could get some help, only to find another four to five people there with the same problem. Within an hour, the number of irate customers swelled to close to 20. “We began to suspect that the diesel was mixed with water and that was the reason for the cars stopping on the highway,” Mr. Mujahid said.
This was confirmed to The Hindu by the franchisee owner of the fuel station, Srinivas Reddy.
“Due to the heavy rain, rainwater got mixed in one of the tanks. The station was working fine since morning,” Mr. Reddy said.
The police arrived around 12.30 a.m. “Eight constables went to the petrol bunk to prevent any untoward incident,” said Ramappa, Inspector, Talghattapura police station.
“There was leakage in the underground petrol tank and the diesel in one tank got mixed with rainwater,” he said.
When Mr. Reddy told the customers he would get the tanks emptied and refilled, they refused as the contaminated diesel would have already entered the engine.
Finally, he agreed to pay for servicing the vehicles. A tow vehicle was called in and the cars, most stuck in the highway at different spots, were carted away.
Mr. Mujahid got his vehicle back from the service centre on Thursday evening.
If water enters the engine and is not removed for a long period, it can cause severe damage to the car engine. “Whatever we could do from our side to satisfy the customers, we have done,” Mr. Reddy told The Hindu. He refused to give further details as to how rainwater could have entered the tank.
