One per cent proof flummoxed franchise owner Jigar Patel

How scrupulously honest 37-year-old fuel station owner Jigar Patel uncovered fuel containing only 1 per cent ethanol being sold as E10.

United franchise owner Jigar Patel at his service station in Wallan. Picture: David Geraghty

In August, a tanker delivered a load of E10 fuel to a United Petrol service station in Wallan, a small town 40km north of Melbourne.

As the driver signed the fuel docket for service station franchise owner Jigar Patel, he shook his head. “There’s something suss about this fuel”, he told Patel.

The tanker driver didn’t believe his load was what the paperwork said it was. He didn’t think it contained anywhere the 9 per cent to 10 per cent ethanol to be sold as E10.

Patel was alarmed. He’s a scrupulously honest 37-year-old who arrived in Australia from India 15 years ago and worked for years as a courier to save the money to buy a United franchise. He’s worked equally hard to establish his reputation in Wallan as trustworthy businessman and member of the community.

Worried he might be inadvertently misleading his customers, Patel searched the internet for a way to test the fuel and on YouTube he found a rough but reliable method.

He took a bottle of water, emptied most of it and drew a line around the outside of the bottle to the level of the water. Then he added a small amount of United’s E10 fuel and shook the mixture.

Ethanol doesn’t separate from water so if the level of “water” appeared to increase over the marked line, it would indicate an amount of ethanol. When the mixture settled, the fuel had visibly separated. The water level hadn’t changed.

Astonished, Patel went to nearby Caltex and Liberty service stations, bought E10 and did the same test. The “water” level rose visibly — the fuel contained ethanol.

The whole process was recorded by Patel and a friend on iPhone. In the video, you can hear the disappointment in Patel’s voice as he says to his friend: “This is happening in Australia, where law is everything!”

Patel contacted Sydney lawyer Stewart Levitt, who commissioned a series of tests from reputable, independent laboratories. Over the next few weeks, 23 samples from three states would be tested by two different specialist labs.

All returned the same result: around 1 per cent or even less ethanol.
The Australian’s NSW editor Stephen Rice invites readers who may know more to get in touch via secure email: [e-mail] @riceyontheroad