Mystery fault strands cars at Tesco

Motorists filling up at Tesco in Clifton Moor, York, have been left puzzled by the mysterious defect, which is leaving some drivers unable to start the engine.

But strangely, the problem, which has been reccurring for over six weeks, stops as soon as cars are pushed off the forecourt.

Martyn Lamb, 54, has been having trouble while filling up his Ford Focus since September.

He said: “This is the only place I am having this problem. It lets me in, but then I get a display on the dashboard saying ‘key not detected’.” A delivery driver said he had seen at least eight cars immobilised in the past week alone, and it was causing congestion. “I had to push one woman’s car off the forecourt and clear of the canopy and then it worked fine,” he said.

A Tesco spokesman said the company was investigating and carrying out equipment checks, but there had been no changes in machinery and the cause was not immediately obvious.