Local stores part of gasoline recall: BP warns consumers of contaminated batch; some drivers facing costly repairs
|
|
Contaminated gasoline that could cause engine problems possibly was sold from three Bartholomew County locations, as well as one in Greensburg.
According to the BP website, gas from the contaminated batch was distributed locally at:
Sam’s Club, east of Interstate 65 on Merchant Mile Road
The BP convenience store at Jonathan Moore Pike and Two Mile House Road
The BP station near the Edinburgh outlet mall, off U.S. 31 south of Driftwood Avenue.
The Greensburg BP station on Kathy’s Way, near U.S. 421 and State Road 3.
The problems with the gas occurred in the past two weeks and are related to gas produced at the BP refinery in Whiting, according to the company’s website.
BP spokesman Scott Dean previously said the gas was distributed only in northwestern Indiana and the Chicago and Milwaukee areas. But now, the total recall is estimated at 4.7 million gallons that were distributed as far as southwestern Ohio and southern Indiana.
The gas left thousands of motorists with hefty auto-repair bills during the past two weeks. But not all motorists who purchased gas from BP will have problems.
Dean said his company has begun processing nearly 10,000 claims from customers whose vehicles were affected, mostly in Indiana and Illinois.
According to the company, each station was told to immediately stop selling the fuel and to clean out their tanks.
“I haven’t heard anything about that,” said Steve Keeling, manager of the Columbus Sam’s Club. “We get our gas from many different sources, and we haven’t had any complaints that I’m aware of.”
BP has fixed the problem at its Whiting refinery and is sending new gasoline to the stations, the company said.
Motorists who purchased gas at one of the local stations in recent weeks may or may not have purchased bad gas. Even cars that did receive the off-specification fuel may not have had any notable problems, the company said.
Typical repair bills for draining the fuel tank and cleaning the fuel system are $300 to $1,200, according to The Chicago Tribune.
Of the claims currently being processed, 64 percent are from Indiana residents, 28 percent from Illinois residents and 5 percent from Wisconsin residents.
An additional 3 percent are believed to have traveled through the three-state region when the off-specification fuel was being sold, the Tribune reported.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Think your friends should see this? Share it with them!
comments powered by Disqus
