Misfuelling of emergency vehicles (FOI)

​Request

A

Could you outline how many incidents there have been each year for the past five years of misfuelling emergency vehicles, for example putting diesel in a petrol car or vice versa, and how much the associated repair bills for each year have totalled?

Could you break this down by

• police vehicles

• ambulance

• fire engines

B

In addition, have any measures been introduced by the force to prevent such problem occurring. 

Response

A

There are no recorded incidents of any emergency vehicles (Police, Ambulance or Fire) having been subjected to misfuelling in the past five years.

B

The computerised self-service fuel systems in use across the States fleet, including all Emergency Services vehicles, are activated by fobs that are pre-programmed to only operate the pump delivering the correct fuel for the vehicle to which it is issued. In addition, the driver is required to enter the current mileage for the vehicle which is automatically matched to the previous record for the vehicle. The pump will only activate if this new mileage is within a pre-set tolerance thus providing a second level of protection against error or use of the incorrect fuel fob.