Diesel was accidentally poured into the tank at a Compton gas station

Le Relais du Domaine store owner Danny Luce began to suspect something was wrong Friday morning around 6 a.m. when a customer called him to tell him her car wouldn't start anymore. Just a few minutes later, another customer called to report the same thing.

“That's when I called Sonic to tell them I thought there had been a delivery error, without blaming anyone. “Thursday is my biggest day, so I can say there were several liters of diesel petrol sold yesterday,” he said.

The latter did not remain idle all day, as he had to take calls from worried customers and his gasoline supplier. While chatting with a Sonic employee, he was told that Thursday's delivery was made by an experienced truck driver, but he was accompanied by a young man in training.

Within a few minutes at the store, our journalist met two customers who were in for an unpleasant surprise this morning, as word began to spread in the small municipality. “My daughter wrote to tell me that this had happened to her, and that her car would no longer leave. “Me too, my car won’t leave anymore,” a woman said.

Danny Luce estimates that about fifty customers may have been affected.

Busy day

It was a local mechanic who contacted Danny Luce early Friday and helped confirm what happened. He had just welcomed his first customer into his garage with a dirty gas tank. At midday, about ten drivers appeared to be suffering from the same problem.

“Many customers and many vehicles returned by tow truck. Here, we are trying to do our best but we are already exhausted. We will not be able to solve all these problems,” said Patrick Boivin, owner of Garage Boivin, which is located a few kilometers from the gas station. “Before the weekend, that's for sure.”

A customer showed up on site as a precaution, filling his truck with gasoline Thursday evening at Le Relais du Domaine station. “I was one of the last to put gas in my truck. I haven't had any problems yet, but I came to the mechanic to see what was going on. The rest will be in the future for my truck,” he explained.

For her part, Dani Luce is doing her best to manage the situation. His gas pumps only serviced supercars and diesels all day Friday, representing a significant financial loss for his company.

“Right now, I'm writing down names and phone numbers. Then when Sonic gives me a contact number I'll send the list to Sonic who will call the customers one by one to solve the problem as quickly as possible.”

However, the latter confirmed that the situation appeared to have recovered since Thursday evening. Some customers who filled their tank after 6pm have not had a problem at this time. Mr Luce is still awaiting feedback from the fuel supplier.