HOUSTON \u2013 A tank of gas ended up costing several Spring Branch drivers thousands of dollars in vehicle repairs and they say they are struggling to get answers or compensation from the gas station responsible.<\/p>\n
Roughly a dozen customers who filled up at a Circle K at Antoine and Long Point Road say contaminated fuel damaged their vehicles around May 16. KPRC 2 News reporter Corley Peel was at the gas station working to get answers.<\/p>\n
Jack Tillet had just finished an Uber driving shift when he stopped to put $12 worth of gas in his car.<\/p>\n
\u201cI got about a half mile down the road and my car just died,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
A mechanic discovered water contamination in Tillet\u2019s fuel system. When the car arrived at the shop, it was not alone.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt just so happened there were cars being towed from that Circle K to his shop. So mine wasn\u2019t the first one,\u201d Tillet said.<\/p>\n
Repairs for Tillet\u2019s car are estimated at $6,000, money he says he simply does not have.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t have $6,000, obviously. I mean, I\u2019m driving Uber at night, on Social Security,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
When KPRC 2 News Reporter Corley Peel stopped by the store, the manager and owner were not present. A cashier said he believed a delivery issue caused the problem and estimated about 10 vehicles were affected.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think they are working on the insurance so insurance can compensate the damage to vehicles,\u201d the employee said.<\/p>\n
When Corley attempted to call the manager, no one answered. The manager has not returned the call or text. <\/p>\n
Tillet says after weeks of being ignored, he finally received a response from Circle K corporate, but it was not what he hoped for.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey just got back to us yesterday and said, sorry, they can\u2019t help us. They\u2019re not affiliated with that Circle K. It\u2019s a franchise. There\u2019s nothing they can do, nothing they will do,\u201d Tillet said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not our fault. We went in and put gas, and now all of a sudden all our cars are ruined,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Texas regulators can fine a gas station up to $3,000 and even revoke its license if contaminated fuel is confirmed. Drivers who suspect bad gas should save receipts, document damage and file a complaint with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt least six, seven of us have filed complaints. We\u2019ve heard nothing back from the state either,\u201d Tillet said.<\/p>\n
KPRC 2 News reached out to Circle K corporate and the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation for comment on how drivers can be compensated. Neither had responded at the time of publication. KPRC 2 News will continue to follow this story.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON \u2013 A tank of gas ended up costing several Spring Branch drivers thousands of dollars in vehicle…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":325341,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[114448,74974,56,58,57,15527],"class_list":["post-325340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-bad-gas","tag-circle-k","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news","tag-spring-branch"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=325340"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325340\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/325341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=325340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=325340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=325340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}