Lucky French Motorists Get Cheap Fuel from Faulty Pump

Dozens of lucky French motorists were treated to bargain-basement prices when an automatic diesel dispenser malfunctioned and charged 25 euro cents (30 U.S. cents) a liter.

A total of 189 motorists were able to take advantage of the price mix-up overnight at a Cora supermarket in the city of Montbeliard near the Swiss border, local police and the supermarket's management said.

A long queue of vehicles formed at the petrol station, which would normally have charged 1.396 euros a liter for diesel, after word spread of the cheap price.

In a little over two-and-a-half hours, between 10,000 and 11,000 liters of diesel were purchased, costing the petrol station about 12,000 euros.

"We have filed a complaint and are trying to determine the origin of this malfunction," store manager Christophe Renard said.

Local prosecutors said there was no immediate evidence of the pumps having been tampered with and that consumers could not be held responsible for the mix-up.