SOMERSET motorists are in outrage after fuel became "contaminated" at two different petrol stations.

Drivers who filled up at Taunton's Greenway Motors Texaco and Asda Locking Express in Weston-super-Mare have been affected.

In Taunton, a Grab-a-Cab taxi had to be towed to the garage when its driver noticed a "hissing" sound coming from the vehicle.

There was also a "rough starting" on the car. 

Owner of the taxi business, Jared Colclough, went onto Facebook and saw reports of fuel being put into the incorrect tanks at Greenway Motors.

Jared explained to the BBC that Greenway Motors had told him that a lot of customers had phoned up saying their cars had broken down.

Jared said: "I phoned them to confirm if that had affected their diesel tanks and they said yes it had.

"So, we put two and two together and realised my diesel car had petrol put in it.

"As a taxi company, we do school runs and we are contractually obliged and I was concerned this car could break down at any moment. But also it's the worry of how much damage this has done."

The Taunton garage offered to fix the car.

Speaking to the BBC, Jared added: "The garage did say we could go to another garage and keep the bills, but we are a small taxi company, we don't have that disposable income to fork out hundreds on."

Texaco has said any customers who have suffered a problem should contact Texaco Customer Care via its website.

Sophie Rollason, from Weston, lost out on a day's work due to car trouble.

She had called into the Locking Express petrol station on Tuesday while on her way to drop her children off at school before going to work.

Sophie told the BBC: "Everything was fine until I got to Haywood village down the road and the car started to lose speed, and then wouldn't start at all.

"When the recovery man turned up to help find out the problem he smelt the fuel cap and told me he could smell diesel, not petrol in my car before the garage confirmed it to me."

Her husband's work van has also been affected. As the family's main earner, he could be missing work for the rest of the week because of the "mix-up".

"He broke down outside our house", Sophie added.

"I'm worried about the damage to my car - that has still not been totally calculated."

An Asda spokesperson said: “We are currently conducting an investigation into a possible contamination at our Locking Express petrol station.

"Fuel is currently unavailable whilst the investigation takes place, and we apologise for any inconvenience caused.”