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One South Valley student can't afford to wait for repairs. An 18-year old College of Sequoias student filled up on the diesel fuel at Flyers gas station on Mooney Boulevard in Visalia.
It's not the sound anyone wants to hear when they try to start their car. Russell Beechinor says, "Wait for it. There you go." After finally getting the engine running, Russell Beechinor's truck dies within a few seconds.
Beechinor says, "It's not exactly pretty but I'm an 18 year old broke college student just trying to get something that will get me back and forth to school semi-reliably.
Beechinor's stop and start problem has been a common occurrence since Friday. The shocking part of his Flyers gas receipt isn't that he paid $20.00 for just over five gallons of gas. He's one of hundreds who filled up on diesel fuel thinking it was regular unleaded after energy company Kinder Morgan admitted a mix up. Beechinor went to Flyers gas station for help and got a 1-800 number in return. But since he can't afford to pay for the repairs himself, he's forcing his truck to run on the wrong gas.
Russell Beechinor says, "And I don't have another car so rather than doing the same thing and not driving this one I've got to get back and forth to school so, here I am."
The 18-year old now has a whole routine just to get his truck up and running before he gets behind the wheel.
Beechinor says he hopes the diesel fuel lasts him a long while before he has to buy gas again. Corporate managers of Flyers simply call the gas mix up an "unfortunate incident."
