Footage of the alleged dumping of petrol in a South Dunedin stormwater drain has been given to police and the Otago Regional Council launched an investigation yesterday.
Z spokesman Jonathan Hill said a man filled a diesel-powered silver ute with about 35 litres of petrol at the Z Andy Bay service station on Tuesday.
After realising his mistake, he was told by Z staff "in no uncertain terms'' he could not drain the petrol from the ute at the station.
"In these instances, the vehicle needs to be removed from the site for the fuel to be safely removed.''
The man called a male friend for a tow but on arrival, the two men drained the fuel from the ute into a stormwater drain on site.
When staff discovered the petrol had been dumped, firefighters were called just after 6pm but were unable to recover any of the petrol.
However, Z contractors later recovered most of the petrol from the drain but about eight litres of petrol was lost to the waterway.
CCTV footage revealed "exactly what happened'' and a complaint was given to police yesterday including details of the men and ute.
ORC environmental monitoring and operations director Scott MacLean said the council was aware of the incident and was investigating.
Dunedin City Council spokesman Jamie Shaw said contractors visited the station on Tuesday and deemed no petrol had made its way to the waterway.
The city council would not be investigating further, he said.
