Whale Tankers has delivered an order from the AA for a fleet of 20 vehicles to provide its AA Fuel Assist service to meet the growing problem of motorists inadvertently filling their vehicles with the wrong fuel.
According to Donald MacSporran, Technical Performance Manager at the AA: “Every year around 150,000 motorists in the UK fill their cars with the wrong fuel – that’s equivalent to something in the order of 150 petrol tankers worth of fuel. In fact, each year we have more than 60,000 call outs from AA members experiencing this very same problem. We as an organisation became so concerned about it that we decided to set up our own AA Fuel Assist service for draining the wrong fuel from members’ vehicles at the roadside and then refuelling with the correct fuel.”
The AA contacted Whale to call on its expertise to develop an intrinsically safe fuel retrieval system to be built into the proposed fleet.
The requirements were for a system that could handle every stage of the process, getting motorists back on the road as soon as possible. The new vehicles are therefore capable of recovering the misfuelled ‘contaminated’ fuel from the vehicle’s tank, storing it safely in an IBC (Intermediate Bulk Container) with the recovery of the vapour in a separate carbon tank. They are then able to refuel the vehicle with the correct fuel. The system also complies with ATEX and ADR requirements.
The Whale technical team initially designed a prototype system that was protected by a series of push buttons and relays. This was then further refined with additional safety features developed by Whale and ‘driven’ via a PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) and Whale software with a series of diagnostics and electronic warnings with full reporting through a digital display.
According to Donald MacSporran, “We researched organisations that would have been able to work with us on this project and Whale Tankers came to the fore as an organisation well versed in providing solutions to challenging requirements. We have been very impressed with the Whale team’s input to develop an intrinsically safe system that not only satisfies our demanding requirements but one that has been subsequently cleared by the Health and Safety Executive, and approved by our insurers. Additionally, all our technicians are qualified and trained to ADR standards, and SPA Forecourt certified.”
