Dear Colleagues,

On Saturday June 3(superscript: rd), I went through a experience that
continues even to date to cause me immense pain of mind, not to mention
time, money, energy & effort wasted.

Just accepting delivery of a Mazda Motor Car that I purchased the very
same
day (03/06), I proceeded to the Horton Place/ St. Bridget’s Convent
Petrol
Shed (Felix Perera & Son Petrol Shed) belonging to Lanka IOC to pump
petrol
& pumped a full tank of petrol. I drove out of the petrol shed &
proceeded
passing Cinnamon Gardens Police to my residence in Wellawatte. Right in
front of the Colombo University my vehicle stalled & stopped in the
middle
of the road. With the help of some University students I pushed the car
to
the road side & attempted to re-start without success. It occurred to me
at
that time, could the pump-man have accidentally pumped diesel instead of
petrol & thus I immediately rushed in another vehicle to the petrol
shed.
It was gladdening at that moment to ascertain that the pump-man had not
pumped petrol, but had correctly pumped Octane 95 petrol. So then what
could have been the problem that my car stopped dead on me just
approximately 1 km away from the very petrol shed that I only a few
minutes
ago pumped petrol?

Luckily for me I had the presence of mind at that time to take the
pump-man
to the spot where the car was stopped together with mechanics from the
Company that I purchased the vehicle. The mechanics cranked the engine
and
squirted petrol into 3 clear plastic disposable empty water bottles & lo
&
behold there appeared to be no petrol, but instead a colourless aqueous
liquid which appeared to be water in the main, which the pump-man too
agreed was mainly water & prima facie no visible sign of petrol. The
mechanics then towed the car to their workshop & I went back to the
petrol
shed to get to the bottom of this and report the matter to the petrol
shed
owner. At the petrol shed they checked the tank connected to the
particular
pump that the petrol was pumped and they confirmed verbally that there
was
indeed water. As the owner was not there at that time at the petrol
shed, I
contacted him from the petrol shed over the phone & explained my plight.
He
was courteous & nice and asked me to contact him on Monday
5(superscript:
th) after I had got an opinion from Car Mart (I had decided to get my
car
checked & diagnosed for damage/repairs from Car Mart, the MAZDA Agents).
On
Monday 5(superscript: th) when I contacted the owner & told him that Car
Mart had indicated that it appears that petrol mixed with water was
extracted from my tank, he was still courteous & said that he needs to
conduct his own investigation & could not do so as the pump-man had not
reported to work & was on leave & assured me that if there actually was
water he would reimburse my fuel & make compensation to the extent of
the
damage. I took his word for it & did not lodge an entry with the police.
In
hindsight, I now realize that the petrol shed owner was being courteous
purely to buy time to clean up his act with his tanks & pumps & thus I
lost
the opportunity & was precluded from getting the police to seal the
petrol
shed & to take samples of petrol from the particular pump. On Tuesday 6
(superscript: th) I contacted the owner once again & to my utter
amazement
like a chameleon changing colours the petrol shed owner (Brian Perera)
was
down-right rude & insulting & took the position that his investigation
had
indicated that there could not be water in his petrol & asked me to very
simply “go fly a kite”, literally. I am told reliably that petrol shed
owners generally would have taken out insurance covering such situations
&
it is a matter of claiming same & compensating me. But, the owner &
Lanka
IOC just do not want to take responsibility.

When I contacted Lanka IOC they too were not willing to accept
responsibility.

Just yesterday I received the official technical analysis of the report
from CISIR (now ITI - Industrial Technical Institute) which explicitly
states that the sample of so called petrol contains 12% water content
weight by weight as per “Dean & Stark” method of analysis.

Under these circumstances the question is begged, to whom should an
unsuspecting & innocent citizen Perera turn to for recourse, in such a
situation?

Bottom line is that I am now wasting all my efforts legally, police,
consumer affairs, Indra Traders, going public & even to the extent of
Minister Fowzie as Interim Regulator, to get Lanka IOC and/or Petrol
Shed
owner to pay to get my car in running order which costs approximately
Rs.
140,000/-, including the cost of fuel of Rs. 4,260/- as per Car Mart
estimates.

As it is I have still not had the pleasure of driving my new car to my
home
& sharing the joy of it with my family as it lies in “limbo” at Car
Mart.
Instead what I am saddled with is an immediate out-of-pocket situation
not
to mention the virtual “hell” I have been through these past 2 weeks.

This could happen to you too !!

I hope you would bear with me for this lengthy e-mail, the purpose of
which
is twofold.

(1) to have your solidarity in boycotting this particular petrol
shed
& if possible all Lanka IOC petrol sheds. (as I understand, at this very
moment Lanka IOC is wrangling with issues with the Govt. of Sri Lanka &
their petrol sheds are not functioning);

(2) to receive your invaluable advise on the matter.

Thank you.

Best regards

Mooneil