PaulQ
New member
- Joined
- Jun 13, 2014
- Messages
- 108
I lost £250 yesterday: I was at Sainsbury’s and after the shopping, I went to get some fuel as the tank was all but empty and I filled to with ... diesel... and I drove off... I actually managed just a little over 15 yards, and it stopped.
A one hour wait, £170 to drain and flush, £40 worth of diesel gone and another £40 worth of petrol required...
The only bright part came when a Jehovah's Witness appeared with some tract and started on about God (who was completely absent when the diesel was going in.) I mentioned this and he smiled as if I had just told him that I had received a telepathic message from Mars - then fortunately the guy from the flushing company arrived and I had reality to deal with...
He sucked the tank dry, pushed out the stuff through the Schraeder valve on the left of the cylinder head, and then stuck a gallon of petrol in the tank.
The flushing guy was an interesting bloke: and kept me entertained with stories of breakdowns and his life as a motorbike mechanic, I asked him how many call-outs he has in a day, he told me that today he had had 4 but the other day he had had 10! I asked what he did with the fuel – He collects “mainly petrol” in one tank on the van and “mainly diesel” in the other – he then sells the stuff to a company that separate them and resell them to supermarkets. You can do the accounting but assuming 5 a day = £850 less VAT = £680 per day with costs being the van (and insurance which will be high), the pumping equipment, his wages, premises, and it all looks quite profitable.
The car's running fine now.
A one hour wait, £170 to drain and flush, £40 worth of diesel gone and another £40 worth of petrol required...
The only bright part came when a Jehovah's Witness appeared with some tract and started on about God (who was completely absent when the diesel was going in.) I mentioned this and he smiled as if I had just told him that I had received a telepathic message from Mars - then fortunately the guy from the flushing company arrived and I had reality to deal with...
He sucked the tank dry, pushed out the stuff through the Schraeder valve on the left of the cylinder head, and then stuck a gallon of petrol in the tank.
The flushing guy was an interesting bloke: and kept me entertained with stories of breakdowns and his life as a motorbike mechanic, I asked him how many call-outs he has in a day, he told me that today he had had 4 but the other day he had had 10! I asked what he did with the fuel – He collects “mainly petrol” in one tank on the van and “mainly diesel” in the other – he then sells the stuff to a company that separate them and resell them to supermarkets. You can do the accounting but assuming 5 a day = £850 less VAT = £680 per day with costs being the van (and insurance which will be high), the pumping equipment, his wages, premises, and it all looks quite profitable.
The car's running fine now.