THE ASSOCIATION of petrol station owners yesterday vehemently denied suggestions that water was being added to petrol, after a mechanic claimed he had seen over 30 cars damaged by adulterated fuel.
Association chairman Pambinos Charalambous told the Cyprus Mail: “There is absolutely no truth in this whatsoever. Where is the proof?”
He also said that the government randomly checked petrol products using a special liquid which changes colour if water is present, “with anybody caught of deliberately adding water in big trouble.”
Akis Lefkaritis, Director of Petrolina, one of the island’s biggest petrol companies, said: “There is no way anybody would add water”, attributing the discovery of trace amounts of water in petrol to “corrosion and humidity”.
He added that diluting petrol was illegal.
Car mechanic and agent for Syneco Oils, Andreas Constantinou, said that damage can amount to as much as £2,000, with the whole fuel system affected, as well as the catalytic converter and the fuel filters.
“Sometimes the engine will cut out and the car will not start again, but it depends on the specific case,” he said, adding that it was impossible to tell on the forecourt whether water was present in petrol.
Fellow mechanic Spyros Nicolaides, who runs a garage in Strovolos, explained that the problem sometimes arises through wear and tear. “Corrosion affects older pumps meaning water can get in and seep into the petrol,” he said. “Every six or seven years, older petrol stations should replace their pumps in order to stop this from happening.”
However, he did admit to hearing of rumours that some petrol stations deliberately added water to their petrol mixture for financial gain.
He advised people to keep their petrol receipts safe to use as proof just in case a problem developed which damaged their car.
Eleni Savvides said she noticed something was wrong after filling up with petrol two weeks ago. “After pulling out of my driveway the following day, I noticed the car started jerking upon acceleration and had lost all its power. A minute later the engine cut out. I managed to restart it, but it kept cutting out and I had to take it to my mechanic, who confirmed that the problem had been caused by petrol with too much water in it.
“The same thing happened to my daughter’s car six months ago.”
