Tesco says no problem with Irish fuel

Tesco said today it had no reports of problems from motorists using their filling stations after apparent contamination of fuel in the United Kingdom.

Investigations are under way into whether contaminated petrol was responsible for a mysterious problem that has damaged the engines of hundreds of cars across Britain.

Several motorists blamed petrol they had bought from supermarket retailers Tesco and Morrisons. Both companies said they had carried out tests and found no evidence that their fuel was contaminated.

A spokesman for Tesco Ireland told ireland.com: "We get our fuel from an Irish supplier, so it's not the same source. We have had no reports and we don't anticipate any."

Britain's Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said it believed suspect fuel might have damaged sensors in some cars' systems, leading them to cut power to prevent damage to the engine.

"It's still fairly unclear what's going on," said SMMT spokesman Nigel Wonnacott. He said cars aged about two to five years old seemed to be most affected.