MORRISON'S at Tavistock experienced its own mini fuel crisis last week after unleaded pumps were filled with diesel by mistake — leaving angry motorists with broken down cars. An unleaded fuel tank at the Plymouth Road superstore was filled with diesel on Tuesday of last week. And motorists were still filling their vehicles from the same pump until at least 10 am the next day. The mix-up left many motorists experiencing car breakdowns — engines cutting out, shuddering or difficulties in starting. It could mean that they will be left with a garage bill of anything up to several hundred pounds. On top of the inconvenience many customers were also upset with the reaction of the superstore to the fuel mix- up. Alison Tunnicliffe, of Tavistock, bought £20 of fuel for her Suzuki Grand Vitra at 12.36pm on Tuesday. She said: 'I was driving along and it began to chug and then conked out coming to a roundabout. It could have been really dangerous. We depend on the car as a family and I have to pick up the children from school.' Mrs Tunnicliffe, 36, a health and social care student, managed to get home, but next morning went to her garage where she was told it could be faulty fuel. She went to the Morrison's service area but they would not give her a refund for the fuel. Staff referred her to the store's customer services, where she was told she had to claim through the company insurance. She said: 'I was not happy. I was out of pocket and I don't think it right that Morrison's customer care told me to put it in writing. Why should I be put out by their mistake and have to go through all the hassle? 'I put petrol into my car from their pump in good faith and they took my money. It's not right. I would have thought it would have been a good gesture on their part to have at least repaid the fuel bill.' Another customer unimpressed by the reaction of the store was Rod Martin, Tavistock. His wife put £40 of diesel-contaminated fuel into their Mitsubishi Colt from an unleaded pump last Wednesday at 9.41am. The next day Mr Martin, who is retired, found difficulties starting the engine. By coincidence he was taking his car to the garage for the service and they told him of the fuel error at Morrison's. 'When I went to tell them about the fuel problem I found their attitude was stroppy. When we approached one of the managers he said he was told not to say anything by their press office.' Mr Martin said that what annoyed him that Morrison's did not appear to have contacted the local media, such as the radio stations, to warn people about the fuel mix-up. Tim Guy, of Tavistock, filled his new motorbike with fuel on Tuesday evening. He said although the bike did not run well he managed to get to work at Lifton next day — but could not get the engine going to get home on Wednesday night. 'There was a load of smoke and I thought it smelled like diesel. I checked my till receipt just to see if I'd made a mistake, but I had bought what should have been petrol,' said Mr Guy, whose bike had to be transported back to Tavistock. Mike Williamson, the manager of Manor Garage in Horrabridge, said car owners came in with their vehicles showing the fuel problems on the Wednesday morning. He said: 'We had had five or six people in. With a problem like this vehicles have to have the fuel drained, tanks flushed and new petrol filter put in. It all depends on how much fuel was put in at the time.' A Morrison's spokesperson said: 'There was an incident at our Tavistock petrol filling station where a small number of our customers received the wrong fuel. 'We have apologised to those customers affected and are working with them. We would ask anyone who has been affected to call our customer service team on 0845 611 6111. Our petrol station is now open and trading as usual.'