Emergency Fuel Delivery and Wrong Fuel Drain in London
Petrol or diesel brought to your vehicle from £70 including fuel, or a mobile drain and flush if the wrong fuel went in. One price agreed on the phone before anyone sets off, day or night, across London, the M25 ring and the Home Counties.
- No call-out fee
- Price agreed first
- Fully insured operators
- 24/7/365
Run out of fuel? CityGrip Recovery brings petrol or diesel to your vehicle anywhere in London and the Home Counties for £70 to £200, and that price includes a set amount of fuel, enough to get you going or to reach a filling station. Put the wrong fuel in? Do not start the engine. We drain the tank at the roadside, flush the system, put the correct fuel in and check the vehicle runs before we leave, at a price quoted on the phone once we know the vehicle, the tank size and whether the engine was started. There is no call-out fee on either job and the price is agreed before anyone sets off. Call or WhatsApp 07960 200253, any hour.
Two jobs, one number: fuel delivery and wrong fuel draining
Almost every call to this page is one of two jobs. The first is that the tank is empty and the car will not go, so you need the correct fuel brought to where the vehicle is standing. The second is that fuel went in and it was the wrong sort, so you need it taken back out before it does damage. They are different pieces of work, with different equipment and different pricing, which is why the first thing we settle on the phone is which one you have. If you are not sure, tell us what happened at the pump and we will work it out with you.
For a delivery we bring petrol or diesel to the vehicle in proper containers, put it into the tank and stay while you start up. Most cars fire straight away. A diesel that has been run completely dry can draw air into the fuel system: many modern common-rail engines re-prime themselves by cycling the ignition, and some need bleeding properly before they will run. If repeated cranking has flattened the battery, a jump start is from £60. If the vehicle still will not run for a reason that has nothing to do with fuel, recovery and towing starts at £80, and you will be told that on scene rather than left guessing.
A wrong fuel job is a drain and flush. The contaminated fuel comes out of the tank, the lines and filter are dealt with according to how far the wrong fuel travelled, the correct fuel goes in, and the vehicle is started and checked before the technician leaves. What comes out is contaminated waste: it is taken away for proper disposal and it never goes back into your tank or anyone else's. If the drain shows the engine has suffered from being run on the wrong fuel, we will say so plainly and recover the vehicle to a garage rather than pretend a flush has fixed it.
Had a non-fault accident? Your recovery is free.
If another driver was at fault, CityGrip arranges free recovery, secure storage, a like-for-like courtesy car and full claims management, with every cost recovered from the at-fault driver’s insurer. You pay nothing, and your no-claims bonus stays intact.
What it costs, and what changes the number
Fuel delivery is £70 to £200 and that includes a set amount of fuel. The spread is not arbitrary. A car on an accessible residential street in daylight, needing enough to reach the nearest filling station, sits at the bottom of it. What pushes a job up is the amount of fuel needed, a larger tank on a van or motorhome, awkward access such as an underground car park or a gated private site, distance out into the Home Counties, and the hour. Whatever the figure is, you hear it on the phone and agree it, and only then does anyone set off.
Wrong fuel work is quoted on the call rather than advertised as a single number, because the variables genuinely change the work: tank size, how much wrong fuel went in, whether the ignition was ever switched on, whether the car was driven, and how easy the vehicle is to reach. For context, UK misfuel specialists commonly advertise drains from around £99 to £130 for the simplest cases, and Which? puts the cost of dealing with contaminated fuel at £120 to £1,000 in best-case scenarios, rising towards £5,000 in extreme cases where the engine was run. Getting to the car before the key is turned is what keeps the bill at the low end.
There is no call-out fee on anything, so nothing is charged simply for the van moving, and there is no night or weekend surcharge added afterwards. On timing, you get an honest estimate once we know exactly where you are, what the vehicle is and what the traffic is doing, and we would rather give you a realistic window than a flattering one. Central London at rush hour and a quiet Sunday in Hertfordshire are not the same job, and pretending otherwise only leaves you standing on a pavement wondering.
The first five minutes after putting the wrong fuel in
Do not turn the key. Do not even switch the ignition on, because on many cars that runs the fuel pump and starts moving the wrong fuel out of the tank and into the lines. If the engine is already running, switch it off as soon as it is safe to do so, which is the AA's own advice. Tell the forecourt attendant: they deal with this regularly, they can make the pump area safe, and they will usually help you move the car. With the car in neutral and someone to help push, get it off the pump apron and into a bay if it is safe to do so.
If you have already driven off, the job changes. Wrong fuel that has only sat in the tank is a straightforward drain. Wrong fuel that has been pumped through the filter, the high-pressure pump and the injectors becomes a drain plus a thorough flush, and sometimes more than that. This is exactly why these calls need a conversation rather than a web form. Tell us how far you drove, whether the car ran roughly, lost power or cut out, and whether warning lights came on, and the right equipment comes with us first time.
This page is where you book the work. If you want the full step-by-step on the moment it happens, why petrol in a diesel does the damage it does and what a drain and flush involves in detail, our misfuelling guide covers it at length and is worth two minutes while you wait. For reassurance in the meantime: you are not the only person doing this today. An industry estimate cited by the RAC and by Which? puts UK misfuelling at roughly 150,000 cases a year, and the great majority are put right without lasting harm.
Petrol in diesel, diesel in petrol, AdBlue and the wrong grade
Petrol into a diesel is both the common misfuel and the serious one. It happens because a petrol nozzle is narrower than a diesel nozzle, roughly 21mm against 25mm as a trade convention, so a petrol nozzle drops easily into a diesel filler neck while a diesel nozzle usually will not fit a petrol car. The RAC makes the same point about why this direction dominates. The risk is chemical rather than mechanical: a diesel fuel system relies on the fuel itself to lubricate the high-pressure pump and injectors, and, as the AA puts it, petrol acts as a solvent that dissolves those lubricating oils. Some newer diesels carry a misfuel prevention device, a spring-loaded restrictor in the filler neck. Many older ones do not.
Diesel into a petrol car is far less common and less severe, but it is still a drain rather than something to drive through. Diesel will not burn properly in a spark-ignition engine, so the car typically runs badly, smokes and cuts out, and the residue fouls the plugs. AdBlue into the diesel tank is a third kind of misfuel that most sites ignore: the urea solution crystallises when it meets fuel-system surfaces, and those abrasive crystals can block lines, filters and injectors. Caught before start-up it is a drain job; started, it becomes fuel-system repair work. AdBlue has its own filler, usually with a blue cap, and it is easy to confuse in the dark.
Not everything that feels like a misfuel is one. If you have a petrol car and put E10 in when you normally buy E5 super, that is usually not a drain job at all. E10 has been the standard 95-octane petrol in England, Scotland and Wales since 1 September 2021, and if the government's online E10 checker says your vehicle is compatible, you can simply fill up with super next time. If yours is one of the older or classic vehicles that is not E10 compatible, call and we will talk it through before anything is drained. The pump labels are worth learning while you stand there: since 1 September 2019 UK pumps carry BS EN 16942 markings, a circle for petrol (E5, E10, E85) and a square for diesel (B7, B10, B100).
Ran out of fuel: how much we bring, and how far that warning light really goes
The delivery price includes a set amount of fuel, and the aim is straightforward: enough to get the vehicle running and comfortably to a filling station, not to fill your tank at roadside prices. If you know you need more than that, say so on the call and it is priced before we come rather than after. Tell us exactly what the vehicle takes, petrol or diesel and the grade, and check the filler cap or handbook if you are not certain, because the only thing worse than an empty tank is the wrong fuel going into it in a lay-by.
Most drivers underestimate their reserve badly. RAC figures put a typical car at roughly 5 to 10 litres left when the low fuel light appears, generally good for 30 to 50 miles, with worked examples of about 37 miles in a Ford Fiesta and about 44 miles in a Volkswagen Golf, while survey work suggests motorists believe they have around 15 miles. Reserve capacity is manufacturer-specific, so check your handbook rather than trusting a rule of thumb. It cuts both ways, too: leaning on that reserve is why the AA attended more than 10,500 breakdowns in a year where members had run out of fuel or charge.
London is unusually good at draining a tank. The range readout is calculated from recent consumption, so a car crawling on the North Circular burns fuel while covering almost no distance, and a figure learned on a motorway run flatters what is really left. Add closed or queued forecourts, roadworks diversions, an unfamiliar route into a charging zone and a driver who intends to fill up after this next bit, and the tank empties somewhere with nowhere to stop. Running a car completely dry is worth avoiding mechanically as well: the in-tank pump on a petrol car is cooled by the fuel it sits in, a near-empty tank draws sediment towards the filter, and a diesel that has pulled air through the system may need bleeding before it restarts.
Vehicles and locations we can work on
We work on cars, vans and light commercials, 4x4s and pickups, motorhomes and campervans, fleet and courier vehicles, hire cars, courtesy cars and company cars. Larger tanks on vans and motorhomes change both the price and the time a drain takes, so tell us what you are actually driving rather than just saying a van. On a hire, courtesy or company vehicle, ring the hire desk or your fleet line as well as us, because most agreements set out who may work on the vehicle and who pays, and a short call now prevents an argument later.
On location, we come to residential streets, driveways and private land with the owner's permission, business parks, supermarket and retail park car parks, and forecourts where the car is blocking a pump. Multi-storey and underground car parks are usually workable, but height restrictions decide the approach, so tell us the clearance and which level you are on when you call. Locked, jammed or damaged fuel flaps, keys shut inside, and cars wedged nose-in against a wall are all better known about in advance. Classic and older vehicles are welcome, and their fuel systems get handled with the care they need.
There are honest limits worth stating. If your vehicle is electric and out of charge, that is not a fuel job and nobody can pour you a top-up: the answer is recovery to a working charge point or to your home, which is our recovery service from £80, not a delivery. A plug-in hybrid that has simply run its petrol tank dry is a normal fuel delivery. And if the car will not start after refuelling for a reason unrelated to fuel, a flat battery, an unrelated fault, or a stuck gauge sender that gave you a false reading in the first place, that gets diagnosed on scene rather than charged as a job you never needed.
Can I just fetch a can of petrol myself?
You can, within limits most drivers have never been told. Under the Petroleum (Consolidation) Regulations 2014, a portable petrol container must be metal, or plastic that will not significantly degrade through contact with petrol or exposure to sunlight, and a plastic container may hold no more than 10 litres while a metal one may hold no more than 20 litres. It must be marked with the words PETROL and HIGHLY FLAMMABLE, an appropriate hazard warning sign, its nominal capacity in litres, and the manufacturer's name and date of manufacture. A forecourt is entitled to refuse to fill anything that does not meet that description, and plenty do.
The same regulations cap what may be kept at home without notifying the local Petroleum Enforcement Authority at 30 litres in suitable portable containers, or 30 litres in a single demountable fuel tank, with a higher ceiling of 275 litres where notification is given. Beyond the legal side there is the practical one. Decanting petrol at the kerbside, often in the dark, often on a camber, with traffic passing a metre away, spills more down the side of a car than people expect, and fuel vapour, hot exhaust components and static make poor company. If the spot is somewhere you would not want to stand for five minutes, do not stand there holding a can.
The related question is whether you can dilute the wrong fuel by topping up with the correct one. The answer is no. Filling a misfuelled tank does not remove the contamination, it simply gives you a larger volume of contaminated fuel, and it usually makes the drain longer and the bill bigger. Leave it, keep the ignition off, and have it drained properly.
Where we come out to across London, the M25 ring and the Home Counties
We cover every London postcode, and in the middle of the city the difficulty is rarely distance, it is access. Central London and the congestion charge zone mean red routes with nowhere legal to stop, permit-only bays, loading restrictions and car parks with height barriers, so expect to be asked on the phone whether you are on a red route, in a bus lane, on a bridge approach or blocking a pump. That answer decides how the job is approached and how urgently the vehicle needs moving out of the traffic stream.
North London work runs through Barnet, Enfield, Wood Green and Finsbury Park and out past Potters Bar towards the top of the M25. In east London we cover Stratford, Leytonstone, Wanstead, Walthamstow and the rest of Waltham Forest, along with Ilford, Barking and the Redbridge and Newham streets around them; our base is on Ruckholt Road in Leyton, E10. West London takes in Acton, Ealing and Bayswater and the corridor out towards Uxbridge and Heathrow, and we work right across south London and the river crossings. The roads where drivers actually run dry are predictable: the A406 North Circular, the A10 north out of Tottenham, the A12 and A13 heading into Essex, the A40 and A41 to the west and north-west, and the A3 to the south, where slip roads, retail park approaches and long stretches without a filling station catch people out.
Beyond the M25 we go into Essex for Brentwood, Chelmsford, Basildon, Billericay and Benfleet, into Hertfordshire for Cheshunt, Waltham Cross, Berkhamsted and Bishop's Stortford, into Bedfordshire for Bedford and Biggleswade, into Buckinghamshire for Amersham, Aylesbury and Beaconsfield, into Cambridgeshire, and across the Kent and Surrey approaches to the orbital. If you are on the hard shoulder or in an emergency area of the M25, M11 or M1, read our motorway fuel delivery page before you call: it deals with that situation specifically, including the safety steps and the pricing that applies on a live motorway.
The law, staying safe while you wait, and what to tell us when you call
Running out of fuel is not in itself an offence. Highway Code Rule 97 says you should ensure you have sufficient fuel or charge before setting off, especially if the journey includes motorway driving, and should is advisory. The consequences are less forgiving: the AA notes that a driver can be fined a minimum of £100 with three penalty points if the car obstructs the road as a result of an avoidable breakdown, or if running out of fuel is judged to amount to careless or dangerous driving. On the motorway, Rules 269 and 271 are stricter still: you must not use a hard shoulder except in an emergency or when directed, and you must not stop on a carriageway, emergency area, slip road, central reservation or verge except in an emergency or when told to.
While you wait on an ordinary road, put the hazard lights on, and if the car is anywhere near moving traffic get everyone out through the passenger side and stand well clear, behind a barrier, wall or fence where there is one, never in front of the vehicle. In a car park you are usually safest staying with the car. On a fast A-road, treat it like a motorway: get as far left as you can, out on the nearside, behind the barrier and up the bank. National Highways' motorway advice is to go left, leave by the passenger door and get behind the safety barrier, with emergency areas orange-surfaced, signed in blue and fitted with an SOS phone. Their number is 0300 123 5000.
When you call 07960 200253, the details that get help to you fastest are these: exactly where you are, whether that is a postcode, a junction number, a what3words square or the name of the shop you are parked outside; what fuel the vehicle takes and, if this is a misfuel, what went in and roughly how much; whether the engine was started or the car driven afterwards; the make, model and rough age; any access constraints such as a height barrier, a gate code or a narrow bay; and whether you are sitting on a live carriageway. WhatsApp works on the same number if that is easier, and a photo of the pump receipt and the filler cap tells us a great deal in one go.
Frequently asked questions
How much does emergency fuel delivery cost?
Fuel delivery is £70 to £200 and that price includes a set amount of fuel. The lower end covers an accessible car on an ordinary street needing enough to reach a filling station. The price rises with the amount of fuel required, larger tanks on vans and motorhomes, difficult access such as an underground car park, distance out into the Home Counties, and the hour of day. There is no call-out fee, and the full figure is agreed on the phone before anyone sets off.
How much does a mobile fuel drain or wrong fuel recovery cost?
Wrong fuel work is quoted on the call rather than advertised as one number, because the price depends on the tank size, how much wrong fuel went in, whether the ignition was switched on, whether the car was driven, and how easy the vehicle is to reach. UK misfuel specialists commonly advertise drains from around £99 to £130 for simple cases, and Which? puts the cost of dealing with contaminated fuel at £120 to £1,000 in best-case scenarios. Call 07960 200253 and you get a firm price before we move.
How much fuel do you actually bring?
A set amount of fuel is included in the £70 to £200 price, and the working aim is to get the vehicle running and comfortably to the nearest filling station rather than to fill your tank at the roadside. If you know you need more than that, for example a large van tank or a location with no forecourt nearby, say so when you call and the extra is priced up front rather than added afterwards.
I put petrol in my diesel car. How much will it cost to fix?
It depends almost entirely on whether the engine was started. Caught with the ignition still off, it is a drain and flush and you are at the cheaper end. Once the car has been run or driven, the petrol has travelled through the filter, high-pressure pump and injectors, which is why Which? gives a range of £120 to £1,000 in best-case scenarios and up to around £5,000 in extreme cases where the engine was run. We quote your specific job on the phone.
Can you deliver both petrol and diesel?
Yes, both petrol and diesel are delivered. Tell us exactly which your vehicle takes and the grade, and check the filler cap or the handbook if you are unsure, because a delivery is only useful if the right fuel goes in. Since 1 September 2019 UK pumps have carried standard labels that make it easier to be sure: a circle for petrol grades E5, E10 and E85, and a square for diesel grades B7, B10 and B100.
Are you available at night, at weekends and on bank holidays?
Yes, the phone is answered 24 hours a day, every day of the year, including nights, weekends and bank holidays. There is no separate night or weekend surcharge added on afterwards. The time of day is one of the factors that sits inside the price you are quoted on the call, and that quoted price is what you pay. Call or WhatsApp 07960 200253.
Do you charge a call-out fee?
No. There is no call-out fee on fuel delivery, wrong fuel draining, jump starts, tyre work or recovery. You are never charged simply for a vehicle setting off towards you. One price covers the whole job, it is agreed on the phone before anyone moves, and it does not change on arrival unless you ask for extra work.
I have already driven the car after putting the wrong fuel in. What should I do now?
Stop as soon as it is safe, switch the engine off and do not restart it, even if the car seems to be running normally. Every extra minute of running pushes the wrong fuel further through the system and turns a straightforward drain into a drain plus a full flush. Call 07960 200253 and tell us how far you drove, whether the car ran roughly, lost power or cut out, and whether any warning lights came on.
Can I dilute the wrong fuel by filling the tank with the correct fuel?
No. Adding correct fuel to a misfuelled tank does not remove the contamination, it just leaves you with a larger volume of contaminated fuel, and it often makes the drain take longer and cost more. It also tempts people into starting the engine, which is the thing that turns a cheap job into an expensive one. Leave the tank alone, keep the ignition off and have it drained.
Will my insurance or breakdown cover pay for a fuel drain?
Sometimes, but it is not universal. Which? reviewed 61 car insurance policies and found that 43 per cent included misfuelling as standard, with a further 10 per cent offering it as an optional extra, which means close to half did not cover it at all. Standard breakdown cover frequently excludes it too. Check your own policy wording or ring your insurer, and ask us for an itemised invoice if you intend to claim.
What happens to the fuel you drain out of the tank?
It is contaminated waste. The fuel removed from your tank is taken away for proper disposal, and it is never put back into your vehicle or sold on to anyone else. The correct fuel that goes back in is fresh. If you want the paperwork for an insurance claim or for a hire or fleet company, ask for it when the work is done.
Can you reach a car in an underground or multi-storey car park, or on a driveway?
Usually yes. Underground and multi-storey car parks are worked on regularly, but height restrictions decide the approach, so tell us the clearance and which level you are on when you call. Driveways, private land with the owner's permission, business parks, retail park car parks and forecourts where the car is blocking a pump are all covered too. Access details given on the phone are what stop a wasted journey.
Do you cover my area, and do you work on motorways?
We cover every London postcode, north, south, east and west, plus the M25 ring and the Home Counties, including Essex, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire and the Kent and Surrey approaches. Major A-roads such as the A406, A10, A12, A13, A40, A41 and A3 are covered as well. For the hard shoulder or an emergency area on the M25, M11 or M1, see our motorway fuel delivery page, which covers the safety steps and motorway pricing specifically.
What should I do if I put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Do not start the engine. AdBlue is a urea solution that crystallises when it meets fuel-system surfaces, and those abrasive crystals can block fuel lines, the filter and the injectors. Caught before start-up it is a drain job much like any other misfuel. Started, it can turn into serious fuel-system repair work. AdBlue has its own filler, usually with a blue cap, and mixing it up in the dark is easier than people think.
I filled up with E10 but my car takes E5 super. Is that a drain job?
Usually not. E10 has been the standard 95-octane petrol in England, Scotland and Wales since 1 September 2021, and if the government's free online E10 vehicle checker says your car is compatible, you can just fill up with super next time and carry on. If your vehicle is one of the older or classic ones listed as not E10 compatible, call us and we will talk through whether draining is worth doing before anything is touched.
Is it illegal to run out of fuel in the UK?
Running out of fuel is not an offence in itself. Highway Code Rule 97 says you should ensure you have sufficient fuel or charge before setting off, and should is advisory rather than a legal must. However, the AA points out that a driver can be fined a minimum of £100 and given three penalty points if the vehicle obstructs the road as a result of an avoidable breakdown, or if running out is judged to amount to careless or dangerous driving.
Can I collect petrol in a can myself instead of calling you out?
You can, but the law sets limits. Under the Petroleum (Consolidation) Regulations 2014, a plastic portable container may hold no more than 10 litres and a metal one no more than 20 litres, it must resist degradation from petrol and sunlight, and it must be marked PETROL and HIGHLY FLAMMABLE with a hazard sign, its capacity and the maker's name and date. No more than 30 litres may be kept at home without notifying the local Petroleum Enforcement Authority. Forecourts can and do refuse unsuitable containers.
My car is electric and has run out of charge. Can you bring me a charge?
No, and anyone promising a roadside top-up for a flat battery electric car is overselling it. An out-of-charge EV is a recovery job: the vehicle is taken to a working charge point or to your home, which starts from £80. A plug-in hybrid that has simply emptied its petrol tank is different and can be dealt with as a normal fuel delivery from £70.
Updated August 2026. Lines open 24 hours. Call 07960 200253.
Fuel on its way, or the wrong fuel out. Call 07960 200253.
Tell us where you are, what the vehicle takes and what went in the tank. Petrol and diesel delivery from £70 including fuel, mobile wrong-fuel draining quoted on the call, no call-out fee, and the price agreed before anyone sets off. 24 hours a day across London, the M25 ring and the Home Counties, by phone or WhatsApp.