Last week was a small nightmare for dozens of motorists who were stranded along the highway with nothing more than water in their fuel tanks; an incident that occurred after water had seeped into one of the underground fuel storage tanks at an Emarat gas station in Jebel Ali.

Only hundred metres after leaving the gas station, the vehicles started to stall.

On Sheikh Zayed Road, not one, but several vehicles that had been struck with the same fate pulled up on the side of the road to be taken to the garage.

Jack (named changed), a western expat living in Dubai was one of the car owners whose vehicle had to be towed away to the garage after it became clear that the tank contained water.

“There was not one drop of gasoline in the tank, I was told.”

As his vehicle was undergoing the necessary repairs, Jack started his own investigation into the possible follow up to the mishap.

“I had to file a report at Dubai Police. I then presented the report to Emarat, and I was told by the manager that everything would be taken care off.”

A week later he received the news that his vehicle was repaired. The bill was Dh3,000.

“I said I did not need to pay the bill, because Emarat would pay. But there has been no agreement, and no communication. If I wanted my car back, I had to pay up.”

According to Emarat the victims of the incident are not supposed to pay upfront.

On the contrary, the bill should be taken care of by Emarat’s insurance company of.

An Emarat spokesperson said in a statement to Emirates 24|7: “These people are supposed to report to the service station with the cost estimate from the car dealer, where Emarat will coordinate with its insurance company to approve the estimation and proceed with the repair work.
“They are not required to pay for the bill upfront.”

In case the person has paid up front, the statement says: “They have to report to the service station immediately with the supporting documents.”

Jack jilted

After a week of moving around without the comfort of his vehicle, Jack had piled up a taxi bill of no less than Dh1,800, partly as a result of the numerous trips he had to make to finalise a solution with Emarat and Dubai Police.

“As you can imagine, I wanted my car back, so I paid the bill. But I would like to be reimbursed as soon as possible, and I do not know where to start,” he said.

Yesterday, he received a call from Emarat station.

The reimbursement amount was prepared and he could pick it up from the station.

Jack and others are disappointed with the follow-up services. “I am a regular customer of Emarat, and we were the victim of something that went wrong.

“There was no follow up,” he said.

Emarat following up closely

Emarat said in response: “Emarat is following up closely with its insurance company to speed up the process and ensure that customers' vehicles are repaired ASAP.

“We do value and appreciate our customer's patience and understanding. We are doing our best to resolve such issue with utmost priority.”

Meanwhile, an investigation is ongoing to discover the root cause of the incident.

Last week, Hussain Kazim, Manager, Corporate Communications, Emarat, confirmed to this website that water had seeped into one of the underground fuel storage tanks, stalling at least 15.

The gas station is reported to have re-opened this weekend, after it remained closed for most of last week.