SUPERMARKET chain Sainsbury's has apologised and paid out to motorists after a rogue batch of fuel caused their vehicles to break down.

Ten motorists were affected by the problem which hit the filling station at Sainsbury's Arnison Retail Centre store in Pity Me, Durham.

A further 30 motorists are understood to have been similarly affected after filling up at a Sainsbury's in Cramlington, Northumberland.

Sainsbury's said the incidents were caused when a small amount of water contaminated its fuel supply system.

The Durham station was closed for three hours while the problem was rectified, while loading of fuel at a distribution terminal was temporarily halted for an investigation.

All the drivers affected have been reimbursed for repair costs to their vehicles.

A spokeswoman for the supermarket company said: "We supply several billion litres of fuel a year from our 262 petrol stations and our fuel suppliers have stringent processes in place to ensure our fuel is both high quality and reliable.

"Regrettably, a systems fault at our supplier meant that a small number of drivers experienced mechanical problems after using our petrol station in Durham on Friday, July 1.

"As soon as we became aware of this we closed the petrol station and re-opened only when we were sure the problem had been dealt with.

"We have apologised to the drivers concerned for the inconvenience caused and paid the repair costs for the affected cars.

"We have now added further checks to the supplier's processes to ensure that this cannot happen again."

Two years ago Darlington pensioner Jim McQuaker won a county court verdict against Asda after filling his car with contaminated fuel at its store in Whinbush Way, in the town.

Asda was ordered to pay repair costs by a district judge. It had claimed it was impossible for the contamination to have happened.

Darlington mechanic John Kelly, who assisted in that case, said of the Sainsbury's incidents: "If you put water into the fuel tank, the whole system would need to be completely drained and cleaned.

"It is potentially quite a costly job. If you drove the car it would use up whatever fuel was in the fuel line and then would end up breaking down within a couple of minutes."