Wrong Fuel

Malc ( snipped-for-privacy@ubht.swest.nhs.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

I've noticed they're using more and more diesels - particularly 5-series.

Who ends up paying for it...?

The message from Adrian contains these words:

Tax pays for all.

Whilst it's a clear mistake, 150 mis-fuels in 12 months. How many vehicles do the Met have? How many times do they refill? Is it policy to refuel at the end of a shift, or just when it gets low? How often does an officer change cars (particularly from petrol to diesel etc)?

I'd imagine that the number of cars, the number of refuels, and the number of car changes is high, making the chance of such things happening significantly higher.

But, it's still a costly mistake.

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember David Hearn saying something like:

Maybe. I'll be very surprised if the Met workshops do the whole dealer bullshit replacement of the fuel system. More than likely flush and refill and see how it goes.

Dammit I was hoping to reel Conor in on this one.

True - seeing as most work is done in-house. It still costs money (maybe lives?) as the car is off the road for a while. I'm sure I read a new report in the past about a police car which wasn't available for a call because it had been mis-fueled and was waiting for a tow to the garage. Can't find it now though.

The Met outsourced their vehicle maintenance to Venson some years ago.

- So I guess they could be making a tidy profit...

I check as pick the nozzle up, compare it to the vehicle I'm filling and do a second final check before squeezing the trigger, however....

The other day I thought I'd done the above, filled up, popped the nozzle back into the pump and as I turned the nozzle fell back out on the ground. I was horrified to see it was the lead free nozzle on the ground and a diesel car I had filled up.

I sniffed the tank contents, it didn't smell like petrol, I tried to ring the break down service (they were busy) even making plans to push the car out of the way until they arrived.

Not until I went to pay did they confirm I had in fact filled it up with diesel the correct fuel. I must have just caught the lead free nozzle returning the diesel one back.