Firms face court over tainted fuel sales

Petrol suppliers and supermarkets face prosecution and fines over the contaminated fuel that has brought thousands of drivers to a standstill.

Trading Standards authorities are considering taking criminal proceedings under the Trade Descriptions Act and, potentially, other offences.

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The news emerged as millions of drivers face higher prices for unleaded petrol as a result of the contamination alert.

Oil companies have cashed in on a temporary shortage caused by the fact that supermarkets are having to drain and replenish tanks at hundreds of petrol stations.

This has allowed some petrol stations to raise prices by up to 3p a litre (14p a gallon).

Consequently, while the contamination was mainly confined to the South-East, the effects are now being felt across the country.

Martin Williams of the Trading Standards Institute said: "We are investigating whether it is a criminal offence to supply unfit petrol to motorists.

"Supplying unfit fuel is a breach of civil law, a breach of contract, which means individuals can make a claim.

"It could be also a criminal offence under the Trade Descriptions Act. However, it is not clear.

"The penalty at Crown Court for a breach of the Act is a fine. There is no upper limit on what this can be."

Technically, the offence will have been commited by the retailer.

However, there may be scope to prosecute the company originally responsible for supplying tainted fuel.

In this case, the original source of the contamination appears to be Harvest Energy, which is a supplier to Asda.

Tests by the company have found unusually high levels of silicon in four petrol storage tanks at a depot run by Royal Vopak at West Thurrock, Essex.

These tanks are shared with a company called Greenergy, which supplies petrol to Tesco and Morrisons outlets.

Greenergy says an additive used in the production of unleaded petrol by Harvest contained excess levels of silicon.

The major oil companies, including BP and Shell, have denied pushing up prices to take advantage of the contamination alert.

Experts have warned that the cost of compensating drivers for damage to their cars could be as much as £10million with supermarkets, suppliers and insurers squabbling over who will pay.