News - Water in petrol: Who’s wheeler dealing?

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Water in petrol: Who’s wheeler dealing?

Police have launched an investigation into a rare complaint against a leading fuel station in Colombo by a person who claimed his brand new Mazda motor car broke down as a result of water contained in the petrol he got pumped from the particular shed.

The owner who had claimed that the breakdown occurred on the same day on which he bought the car has lodged a complaint with the police.

The victim claimed that his car, for which petrol was pumped from the particular shed on June 3, stalled suddenly after he travelled about a kilometre and he later came to understand that petrol in his vehicle was mixed with water. He said a report he received from the Industrial Technical Institute stated that petrol in the car contained a 12 percent water content.

The car owner said he reported the matter to the owner of the shed who promised to take appropriate action to remedy the situation but however later he had told the car owner that there was no fault on his part and so no compensation could be paid.

According to the owner of the car, the loss from the water contamination is Rs. 140,000. Managing Director of IOC in Sri Lanka K. Ramakrishnan told The Sunday Times that the matter has been brought to his notice but added that the owner of the vehicle has been unable to prove that the shed was responsible for mixing water with petrol. He said that no other persons apart from this single motorist had complained of such an incident.

However he added that a separate investigation would be initiated to ascertain how the contamination took place, in a bid to help customers.

Police said that it will soon send a sample of petrol obtained from the car to the Government Analyst for a report.

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