A chauffeur from Essex prevented other drivers from filling up their vehicles with contaminated fuel after he stood by the pumps at a garage in Basildon and warned others about the dodgy diesel.

Phillip Cameron filled his Mercedes Benz chauffeur car up with £80 worth of fuel at a Tesco Garage at the beginning of the month, but upon leaving the forecourt, his luxury car broke suddenly broke down.

Despite alerting staff at the garage to his suspicions regarding the diesel, Mr Cameron revealed they didn’t initially believe the fuel was to blame for his car’s breakdown.

Convinced the diesel had been contaminated, Mr Cameron warned other drivers against filling up with diesel as he waited for a recovery vehicle to arrive to take his chauffeur car away.

It later transpired that the diesel had been contaminated by water due to a leak in the tank. The garage quickly closed the pumps, and Tesco have announced that they will reimburse customers whose cars may have needed repair, or to cover the cost for car hire while their vehicle was off the road.

Professional chauffeur, Phillip Cameron, lost three days work because of the incident as he was unable to get to London to chauffeur his regular clients in the Canary Wharf district of the city. The cost of repairing the Mercedes after the engine was contaminated with the diesel and subsequent checking of parts ran to £790.