“We were delivered with diesel this Thursday, at 6 am, and more than 400 customers were used throughout the day, or about 15,000 liters of fuel, without any difficulty, explains Bertrand Vigouroux, the director of the big surface.
If there had been a problem with the contents of the tank, the problems would have happened much sooner.
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Among the customers of this Thursday, the mayor of Nanteuil, Gilles Sellier, or the municipal police, who will not encounter any difficulty.
This is confirmed by other users of the station.
"Two of the three padlocks were broken"
“I refueled around 6.30pm this Thursday and had no problem,” explains Stéphanie.
“Same thing for me at 7:30 pm, nothing to report,” Jessica approves.
And it is indeed rather around 4 am, with the first customers of the day on Friday, that the first failures appeared.
The Intermarché service station in Nanteuil-le-Haudoin was the victim of a malicious act, an unknown liquid was poured into the diesel tank.
Herve Sénamaud
“We checked the installations and it was one of my clients who drew my attention to the padlocks on the unloading outlets, where the tanks fill up,” continues the director of the sign.
Apparently everything was in place but on closer inspection two of the three padlocks were broken and put back in place, to make it look like everything was normal.
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Read also Adulterated fuel at the origin of dozens of car breakdowns in the Oise?
Therefore, the most likely hypothesis is that of sabotage, committed by one or more individuals, who spilled a substance in the gas oil tank, on the night of this Thursday to this Friday.
A thesis supported by the discovery of several clues, in particular part of the closure system of a canister, near fractured mouths.
Two analyzes in progress
Samples were taken from the tanks and another substance can be clearly distinguished in that of diesel fuel.
"I have commissioned a laboratory to carry out analyzes which will be done on Monday," indicates Bertrand Vigouroux.
The gendarmes also took samples and will have them analyzed.
They also have fingerprints and the city's CCTV footage will be scanned.
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The manager says he discovered a strange liquid in the gas oil sampled.
LP / HS
In the meantime, the station is closed until further notice and the loss of earnings is already significant for the manager.
“It's a small resort with two tracks, but we serve 90,000 liters per week,” recalls the manager.
And 25,000 liters remain in the tanks which are probably unusable.
The damage is already at least 50,000 euros.
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As for the motorists victims of this malicious act, they too will have to put their hands in their pockets to repair the damage.
So far, eight have come forward, but there may be more once all the checks are done.
Additional alarms?
This Friday afternoon, the director of Intermarché went to lodge a complaint with the Nanteuil gendarmerie, while many of his customers praised “its total transparency”, with detailed communication on the various networks.
“It will serve at least one thing: I am having a new, bigger station built in a few months.
I'm going to ask for additional alarms, ”sighs Bertrand Vigouroux.
A case reminiscent in any case that which occurred in April 2021 at the Intermarché Angy, where adulterated diesel had damaged many vehicles. A priori, there had then been no malicious act, the management of this other store had recognized its responsibility. Discussions are underway so that the people concerned are compensated.