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State shuts down gas pumps for investigation at Fernandina gas station

5/22/19 UPDATE: Authorities with the Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services have lifted the stop-sale on gas at Flash Foods after they passed re-inspection.

"In order to sell the fuel, we have imposed the requirement for additional external filters," the department said.

Original Story:

The state has shut down some gas pumps at a station where customers told Action News Jax they purchased bad gas.

We reported on Action News Jax at 11:00 p.m. on Tuesday that several customers complained their cars were damaged after getting gas at the Flash Foods on Sadler and 8th streets in Fernandina Beach.

When Action News Jax reporter Courtney Cole arrived at the gas station, all the tanks were covered by plastic bags and she was asked to leave the property.

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She saw customers show up, only to be turned away.

The Florida Department of Agriculture gave this gas station a stop-sale order for some of its gas.

Cole reached out to the Florida Department of Agriculture. The agency told her they tested all three grades of gas at the location.

Max Flugrath, the Press Secretary for the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, said preliminary testing shows there was sediment in the tanks.

Alexander Echoff says he gets gas at the Flash Foods on Sadler and 8th every single day.

"When I pulled up, I didn’t understand why there was tags all over the pump. I thought maybe they had ran out of gas or something," Echoff said.

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But when Cole told him she was there to follow up on allegations of tainted gas, he was furious.

"I asked them inside, they wouldn’t really explain why, just that they’re working on it,” Echoff said.

Action News Jax reported Tuesday night, that a Flash Foods customer said it cost him hundreds of dollars to repair his car because of water in the gas tank.

After our story, Eddie Sheppard reached out to us and said his car had the same problems after filling up at a different Flash Foods in the area.

"She was out on the highway and she had just filled it up at the Flash, I think it's store #179 in O'Neil in Nassauville. The car stopped right in the highway,” Sheppard said.

The Florida Department of Agriculture took samples of the gas at the station and sent it to Tampa for analysis.

The department told Cole it is expecting to get the lab results back in the next day or so.

When we get those results, we’ll update this story.