Trading Standards are still being less than informative with the information they are releasing. What exactly do they mean by 'can cause "serious problems" in petrol engines' -
"Firms curb supplies in fuel scare
Two supermarket chains at the centre of the "faulty fuel" alert have moved to stop supplies of suspect petrol.
Morrisons has stopped selling unleaded at 41 outlets supplied by the Vopak depot in Essex - at the centre of suspicions over fuel.
Tesco is to empty its unleaded petrol tanks at 150 outlets in the South East, but will refill them with new stocks and continue selling the fuel.
Tesco's own tests found "significant silicon contamination" in its fuel.
A company statement said: "These tests show evidence of some significant silicon contamination in samples taken from unleaded petrol released from the Vopak terminal around 10 days ago.
Laboratory
"We believe this to be the source of contamination subsequently experienced by some customers in the south-east of England."
Other tests on petrol taken from the tank of a car affected by allegedly faulty fuel have detected the presence of silicon, trading standards officers said earlier.
Cambridgeshire County Council's trading standards department had the fuel sample tested at a London forensic science laboratory.
A spokesman said silicon in the fuel could indicate the presence of silicone - a class of chemical compounds containing the element.
Such products are used in diesel as anti-foaming agents, but can cause "serious problems" in petrol engines, a trading standards official said. ""
was no doubt a response to this from the Trading Standards Institute -
"Fuel Tests Confirm Contamination
2nd March 2007
The first tests carried out for Trading Standards authorities on potentially contaminated petrol samples, following complaints from thousands of motorists, have confirmed the presence of silicon.
Ian Hillier, Lead Officer Petroleum, Trading Standards Institute, said: 'The first result is from a sample of unleaded petrol supplied by a motorist in Cambridgeshire whose car suffered a breakdown.
'Silicon products are used by fuel producers as anti-foaming agents in diesel. However, Silicon can cause serious problems in petrol engines, particularly in modern cars with computerised fuel management systems. Silicon can build up as a deposit on sensors causing them to malfunction.
'As these are preliminary findings and because further tests are being carried out, no information will be released at this stage on where the contaminated petrol had been purchased.'
Trading Standards Officers are now working with the supermarket chains whose filling stations were affected to find the source of the problem and to ensure that consumers obtain proper redress.
They are also checking back through the supply chain in a bid to identify how and when the petrol became contaminated."
Tesco press releases -
Morrisons press releases -