Ultimate mistake: Tony Meredith has a slight problem in our diesel Octavia at the BP petrol pumps �� - Long termer: Skoda Octavia 1.9 PD 130 Estate

It was bound to happen sooner or later, especially when you consider the statistics ... the odds were simply against me. Last month I managed to fill our long-term diesel car with petrol!

In my defence, I did remember it was a diesel car and thought I was putting diesel into it Sadly, I was actually using a BP station; the company's Ultimate unleaded pump is unhelpfully coloured blue--a colour that Esso and Shell have both decided to use to signify diesel.

As I didn't spot my mistake while in the petrol station (it was very early on a Sunday morning!) I drove off none the wiser ... at least until I got about a mile down the road where the Octavia finally gave up trying to pump petrol into its diesel lungs. At first I couldn't think why the car had simply stalled and tried to restart it several times to no avail. Then the light slowly dawned on me.

I was somewhat consoled after I contacted the AA to find out just how regular an occurrence this kind of thing is. It appears that each year an estimated 120,000 drivers suffer the embarrassment of having to call out the breakdown services after filling their cars with the wrong type of fuel. Last year alone the AA was called out to over 43,000 misfuelling incidents; this type of call now sits at number 11 in the service's top 20 faults for 2004.

Worse, these drivers are also being hit with major repair bills averaging 150 [pounds sterling]--and the problem is not getting any better, according to The AA Motoring Trust.

The cost of repairing the damage done when a car has been filled with the wrong fuel depends on whether it has been driven before the mistake is noticed. If it has not been started, then usually the tank simply needs to be drained but if the car has been driven, major repairs may be needed, which can cost up to 3000 [pounds sterling]. Clean, modern fuel-efficient cars are very sensitive to the quality of what is in the tank, so even a small amount of the wrong fuel can have serious consequences.

John Stubbs, the AA Motoring Trust head of technical policy, says the problem does not end there, as the contaminated fuel that is drained from the car presents an environmental hazard: "The fuel is, to all intents and purposes, useless and has to be disposed of at special disposal centres, which just adds to the cost to the driver."

And then there are the hidden costs to the driver to he considered. Firstly there is the cost of the wasted fuel which he or she has had to pay for and then the tank has to be refilled with the correct fuel later Effectively it's like filling the tank twice but only getting one full tank of fuel!

"We must try to reduce misfuelling by raising awareness of the problem among all drivers, so that every time they refuel, they make the right decision about what they are putting in the tank," says Stubbs.

The problems of misfuelling can be partly put down to a prolific increase in diesel cars as the AA states that there is an increasing number of calls coming from drivers who have mistakenly put petrol into their diesel-engined cars.

The recent boom in the sales of diesel cars, which now account for one in lour of new cars sold, together with the increasing number of fleets and households that have mixed fuel cars, means that the opportunities for forecourt confusion will continue each year unless something is done to prevent it.

"Drivers need to think before they put the wrong nozzle in the filler," says Stubbs "While the estimated 120,000 misfuellings each year are only a tiny percentage of the total number of visits to the pumps--estimated to be four million a day--the disruption to those who are unlucky enough to do it is considerable."

The AA Motoring Trust and fuel retailers have launched an information campaign to tackle the problem. Nozzles at selected fuel retailers will carry messages alerting drivers to the issue, while cards carrying the warning will be distributed to AA members through three million copies of its own magazine.

Later in the year, petrol stations across the UK will distribute millions more cards with petrol receipts. The campaign is being supported by the UK Petroleum Industry Association, the Petrol Retailers' Association, the Association of UK Oil Independents and the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association.

This is good news for the thousands of motorists who fall victim to this time-consuming and expensive error every year--but is it enough?

My problem was caused by a simple misunderstanding at the petrol pump. As I normally use BP I simply picked up a blue-coloured pump at one of my local stations and proceeded to fill the Octavia with what I presumed was diesel but what was actually labelled 'BP Ultimate'. Although this version of BP Ultimate was unleaded, the company also produces an Ultimate diesel too. Confused? I was!

Yet hope could be on the horizon for anyone, like me, caught out by this colour code chaos.

"The major oil companies have agreed to standardise the colour of nozzles and hoses for unleaded and diesel, which is very welcome, as is their decision to review nozzle adverts to reduce potential customer confusion at the point of delivery," says Stubbs.

"In the future, once the petrol industry standardizes, car manufacturers could do more--there's no reason why the filler caps and the area around the filler neck couldn't be more clearly marked and colour coded."

BP has already made a move in this direction music to my ears and all other drivers confused by the blue choice of colouring for its Ultimate range.

"At the time Ultimate was launched, we wanted to make a clear distinction between the new premium fuel and the standard fuel," says a BP spokesperson "Extensive market research clearly indicated that we needed to differentiate the new Ultimate fuels and customers stated a clear preference for the dark and light blue colour scheme. Since the launch in October, we have taken onboard further customer feedback and we will shortly be rebranding the Ultimate nozzles to make them clearer for our customers."

A good idea and one that I certainly agree could help prevent misfuelling problems. Although nearly all manufacturers put a warning on or near the filler neck informing you which--fuel you should put into the tank, a colour-coded neck that marches the pump should also help reduce the problem.

Finally, what about compensation for the thousands al us caught out by misfuelling our cars? For instance, does your insurance policy cover it? Mark Keavney from Norwich Union Insurance says: "Fleet drivers would be covered for this kind of accident under a Norwich Union fleet insurance policy. We would pick up engine stripping and cleaning costs, and replacement engines would be offered, taking into consideration wear and tear."

Let all this be a lesson to you and your drivers. But also be sympathetic as it is far easier to misfuel than you might imagine ... trust me, I am a journalist after all!

DRIVER'S LOG:

PRICIE: 17,980 [pounds sterling]

ENGINE: 1896cc four-cylinder turbocharged diesel

TRANSMISSION: Six-speed man

POWER: 130bhp @ 4000rpm

TORQUE: 310Nm @ 1900rpm

C[O.sub.2] RATING: 149g/km (18%)

2003/4 BIK: 3211 [pounds sterling]

DELIVERY MILEAGE: 127

CURRENT MILEAGE: 17,300

OFFICIAL COMBINED: 51.4mpg

ACTUAL COMBINED: 44.2mpg

INSURANCE GROUP: 11P

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN FUELLING GOES WRONG ...

So, you've put the wrong fuel in your car ... what do you do next?

The first thing to do is NOT to start the engine if you can possibly avoid it. Of course, it does help if you actually know that you have put the wrong fuel in the car!

Chances are that if you have started the engine, you won't get very far. Our Skoda travelled about a mile before it gave up altogether.

The next step is to call your breakdown service--or your fleet manager! Whichever breakdown service you subscribe to, you can be sure that they will have come across the problem before. You will need to have the car taken to the garage that services your fleet vehicle.

In the case of our Skoda, as it's a press car we had to inform the press office. They arranged for the vehicle to picked up and returned to their workshop. Although Cathy and Aileen at Skoda were very helpful over the phone, we think they had a good laugh about our editor afterwards!

The car was taken away on Monday night and we had it safely back at the Company Car office car park by Thursday. We had to make sure Tony was out of the way first, of course!

According to Mick at the Skoda press garage, the Octavia was drained of fuel and the tank and hoses were cleaned. Fuel was then purged from both pumps and the fuel delivery rail, and the filter was replaced. Then it was simply a case of refilling (with diesel!) and resetting the memory of the onboard computer which had reverted to factory settings--this to normal behaviour apparently.

In order cars there is a chance that the pump or even the catalytic converter can be damaged but on newer vehicles this is quite rare.

Our Octavia is back on long-term test and next month we will let you how it is performing after its little adventure.

We may even let the editor drive it!

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