Pricing blunder at Asda station draws bargain-hunting drivers

A pricing blunder by Asda in Bradford led to frenzied activity as motorists queued to fill their tanks with unleaded fuel at just over 12p a litre.

A queue of cars snaked around the corner as delighted drivers filled up and passed on the good news to friends and family. Some took jerry cans which they filled during the two-hour free-for-all.

“There were a lot of happy people,” said driver Jon Dixon, 26, a student at Bradford University.

“I saw about 50 or 60 cars waiting to fill up. The station must have lost thousands.”

Mr Dixon was cursing his luck as his car runs on diesel – but a friend managed to fill his tank for £4.

The mistake happened at an unmanned station in Rooley Lane between 10.30pm on Wednesday and 12.30am yesterday.

An Asda spokeswoman estimated that around 40 drivers filled up on cheap fuel but witnesses claimed that they had seen more people than that in an hour.

The spokeswoman said: “We’re well known for having the lowest prices in town, but clearly this was a mistake. We’re glad that lucky people were able to take advantage of the temporary bargain.”

Venezuela’s petrol subsidy makes it probably the cheapest in the world at 1.4p per litre – or about 70p to fill up the average car tank.