Morrisons customers claim petrol contamination caused several cars to break down causing thousands of pounds worth of damage
Robert and Trisha Caines' Honda sputtered to a standstill a mile after filling up - and other motorists say they had the same problem
MORRISONS customers claim contaminated petrol caused their cars to break down just a mile from the supermarket – leaving one couple with a repair bill of almost £5,000.
Robert and Trisha Caines filled up with £40 of petrol at Morrisons in Little Clacton, Essex, on the way to visit their daughter on September 5.
Less than five minutes down the road their red Honda CRB started misfiring and lost all power so they were forced to call for a breakdown van to tow them home.
The following day they say they took their car to a garage where they were told samples of the petrol in the tank showed it was contaminated and the car would cost £4,700 to repair.
The couple complained to Morrisons insurance claims department, but Robert claims supermarket told him they would not help – and denied there was any contamination.
Another Morrisons customer, Karen Biswell, claims she used the station on the same day to fill up her car and broke down only minutes after buying £30 of petrol.
Robert, 66, claims he has spoken to others who say the same.
After being contacted by the press, Morrisons admitted there was a "minor water contamination issue" in late August but said it os not aware of any further issues in September.
Robert, a retired planning manager from Clacton, said: "I can't afford to get too worked up about it because I had a heart attack last year. I was very annoyed but I had to keep my cool.
"I will do everything I can to get it sorted I want to let everyone know what Morrisons is like. I will never go back there.
"We thought that the petrol pump was a bit strange, it was taking ages to fill the car up, but we just didn't think anything of it at the time.
"We can afford to pay for the damage, but we shouldn't have to. You'd hope that they would sort it. It's a big company.
"We've not contacted solicitors so far. If they don't get back to us we will because that's the only other option.
"We've been loyal customers for around ten years but Asda is opening up soon. I think we'll go there instead."
Fellow customer Karen also filled up at the Little Clacton filling station on September 5 with £30 of petrol and then went shopping in Morrisons.
The 48-year-old care assessor, from Weeley, claims the supermarket refused to help even though her mechanic said the fuel was contaminated.
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Karen said: "When I got back into the car it broke down after around five minutes. It was running fine up until I got petrol.
"I took it to my garage and they didn't know what was wrong at first but after seeing comments on social media from people saying 'don't get petrol from Morrisons', they took a sample of the petrol and the test results showed that it was contaminated.
"I had to spend three or four of my holiday days sorting out my car. It's running now but the garage can't guarantee that it hasn't caused further damage.
"I was just told by Morrisons that the petrol was not contaminated on that day and that they have not received any complaints and they will not be taking it further.
"But I had spoken to other people with the same problem.
"I've asked for confirmation that the petrol was actually checked on that day but they just say they know that it wasn't contaminated on that day, without any proof."
Robert said: "We spoke to the manager on Wednesday after it happened. He just didn't want to give anything away but he admitted they have had a problem with contaminated petrol before.
"It seemed like they were expecting it.
"When I phoned Morrisons they were really helpful at first and then about ten minutes later the woman phoned back and her attitude had completely changed.
"We've spoken to a few other people who have had the same problem and bought petrol on the same day, and they've not had any help from Morrisons either.
"There was a man stood behind us when we went to complain and he said it happened to him at the exact same time.
"My wife has her own car but she needs it for work and obviously I can't walk everywhere I need to go. We live in quite a rural area and to get anywhere you've got to drive.
"I've rented a car, but I can't do that for long and spend £500 a week. We'll just have to make do. It's very restricting. We need our car back."
Robert's car is four years old, they have owned it for two and it originally cost them £26,000.
As some of the parts need to come from Belgium, including a new fuel pump, fuel tank, fuel pipes, fuel injections, and a catalytic converter, which costs £1,800 alone, they won't be able to get their car back until September 26.
Morrisons said: "We did have a minor water contamination issue in August at our petrol station in Little Clacton, which has been resolved.
"We are not aware of any further problems occurring in September but we'll obviously listen if any customers have concerns.
"As an act of good faith, we are dealing with Mr and Mrs Caines' claim."
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