Shell Station Unknowingly Has Diesel in Gas Pump
By: Sophie Nielsen-Kolding WMBD/WYZZ-TV
Updated: January 31, 2013
PEKIN- More than a dozen unlucky drivers in Pekin thought they were filling up with regular, but instead pumped diesel into their tanks.
Jeff Crowder said his wife was one of those people who fueled up at the Shell on Court Street.
"She filled it full of what was allegedly gas and made it about two blocks up the road," Crowder said.
He said that's when their car died. Crowder was one of many upset customers that gas station owner Ronald Mathew encountered.
"I said it is not my fault, because the trucking driver, he delivered the wrong tank," Mathew said.
He said the trucking company is to blame, that their driver filled up the regular tank with diesel and the diesel tank with regular. Thursday he had an outside company come to confirm.
Crowder said the mix-up made for an expensive car repair.
"$543 and 53 cents, and a tank of gas," he said holding up his bill from the auto shop.
Mathew says those bills will be covered.
"The trucking company, they told me yesterday they will take care of that. If they are not taking care of this, our insurance company will take care of this," he said.
That's not the end of Mathew's worries, the 'out of order' signs on almost every pump means his business is taking a hit.
"A couple thousand dollars," he estimated.
Mathew said he's not sure if the trucking company will reimburse him for that loss, but he says he hopes to have these pumps up and running in a few days.
