LAKE PLACID – An undetermined number of motorists were affected, some stranded Thursday, after they reported pumping watery gasoline into their vehicles at a Shell gas station at the corner of U.S. 27 and State Road 70, south of Lake Placid. Terence McElroy, press secretary for the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, confirmed the pumps at the gas station had been shut down by an inspector who found water in the tanks. The pump nozzles have been covered and a yellow caution tape has been wrapped around the pumps, McElroy said. "We've received three or four complaints (about that location)," McElroy said. "Our inspector found water in the gas storage tanks as well as water dispensed from the hoses." The pumps have been shut down and the station is in the process of cleaning it up, he added. ...more

June 30, 2008