KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — After some people bought gas at Casey's gas station on Middlebrook Pike, they had to take their cars to the mechanic. Later, they learned water was inside that gas.
A Casey's spokesperson said the problem has since been fixed and the gas station has been operating normally since Wednesday.
One of the people who bought gas there is Felicia Coda, who takes the same route almost every day in West Knoxville. This time, after driving around two miles, her car stalled.
"Tuesday morning, at 5:30 a.m., I stopped at the Casey's, which is my routine and put around $20 worth of gas in my car," Coda said. "I needed to be at the hospital by 6 a.m. to prepare for a 7 a.m. case. So, of course, this interferes with my ability to care for my patients."
That same afternoon, Coda received news from her mechanic.
A mechanic shop said it had to repair five cars over the last few days with the same problem — water in the gas tank. Two other mechanics sent photos of what they found inside gas pumps. Those photos showed mostly water retrieved from gas pumps.
"I found out that the diagnosis was that the fuel that had been put in my car was actually mostly water," Coda said.
A spokesperson from Casey's sent a statement about the watered-down gas sold to some customers, saying recent weather impacted a fuel tank at the store. The full statement is available below.
“Recent weather conditions unexpectedly created a situation where water impacted a fuel tank at the goodstop store at 8541 Middlebrook Pike.
As soon as we became aware, our team members placed bags to clearly mark the impacted pumps out of service so our guests could not purchase.
If a guest believes they may have an issue, they can contact Casey’s at wecare@caseys.com. We apologize for any inconvenience.”
Tony Binkley, from Better Business Bureau, said the Tennessee State of Agriculture investigates these situations. He said without an official investigation, the cause of the water inside gas pumps is unknown.
"Sometimes, this can leak in through an underground leak. But most of the time, it may happen because the supplier of the gas maybe didn't put the tarp on very well or didn't put it on, right and water may have gotten in via rain," Binkley said. "It may not be the gas station's fault that water got in the gas, but ultimately, it's their responsibility because they're the ones selling the gas."
Coda is now short about $1,200, she said, because she had to rent a car to be able to go to work while her own car was in the shop.
For people who already went through this hassle, Coda said they would have to send in receipts and proof to get compensation.
"I currently am under the assumption that I will pay out of pocket and then send all of the information to the Casey's risk management team, where they will evaluate the situation," Coda said. "As pillars of the community, they should own the mistake that was made and do right by their customers."