Friday, June 27, 2008
A Lawrence British Petroleum, or BP, gas station distributed tainted gas on Monday, causing damage to cars and the station to shut down its pumps.
The Commerce Plaza BP gas station, 3020 Iowa St., received a tainted shipment of regular unleaded gas. The regular gas was mixed with diesel fuel at BP’s Sugar Creek, Mo., terminal and then delivered to the Lawrence location at 6:15 p.m.
Customers noticed issues with their cars by 6:30 p.m. Scott Dean, BP spokesman, said once the station was notified, pumps were shut off by 6:40 p.m.
Damon Stewart, of Wellsville, fills up his tank at the Commerce Plaza BP gas station Thursday, June 26. The station recieved an impure shipment of regular unleaded gas Sunday, June 22 but has since flushed and cleaned the fuel tanks to resolve the problem.
“We were very fortunate that people at the station shut down service quickly,” Dean said. “Lawrence was quick to act and that caused less problems.”
Three other locations also received the impure shipment. Stations in Topeka, Hillsdale and Fort Leavenworth confirmed selling the contaminated fuel.
The Topeka BP station, 3000 NW Topeka Blvd., received its shipment at about 8 p.m. The pumps were not turned off until 10 p.m.
Dean said that as of Wednesday night, 13 confirmed people called to report car troubles because of the gas.
The gas tank lines were flushed out and refilled Tuesday afternoon. The gas station offered upgraded gas at a lower price until the tanks were cleaned.
BP has offered to pay for repairs to the damaged cars. Dean urged customers to call their customer care center to report their damages.
“We guarantee every gallon of gas we sell,” Dean said. “This is a very rare occurrence. Usually the mixing process is safe and reliable.”
A pipeline of 15,000 gallons of diesel fuel was inadvertently pumped into a tank with 45,000 gallons of regular tank. Dean said BP officials were investigating the situation.
BP employees said they had no comment about the incident.
Damon Burkhart, manager of Meineke Car Care Center, 2535 S. Iowa St., said driving on the mixed fuel could cause serious damage to cars depending on how much diesel was mixed with the regular unleaded fuel and how far cars drove with it.
“It varies so much,” Burkhart said. “We are talking hundreds to thousands of dollars in damage. Sometimes cars can just drive then stall, or breakdown all together.”
Ron Thorton, driver of Dale Willey Automotive, 2840 Iowa St., said he was still confident in buying gas from the station. The car dealership usually fills its cars at the BP station.
“I’m sure it wasn’t intentional,” Thorton said. “Those things just happen.”
Chris Stewart, of Wellsville, said he drove through Lawrence all the time and used the station in the past.
“I’ve never had problems before,” Stewart said. “As long as everything is ok now, I’m not nervous.”
Customers who believe they filled their tanks with the mixed fuel are asked to call BP customer care at 1-800-333-3991 before seeking repair on their own.
“We take this matter very seriously,” Dean said. “We want to make everything as simple as possible.”
— Edited by Matt Hirschfeld
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