Car were brought to a shuddering halt, some almost instantly, after the blunder at the garage in Surrey.
Vehicles were unwittingly filled up with diesel fuel contaminated with water, according to Tesco, and the retailer has since launched an investigation into how this could’ve happened.
Those left stranded called fuel specialists and breakdown companies but had to wait for hours for tanks to be drained and refuelled.
Steven Berry, one of the drivers impacted, told Surrey Live: "I filled up, drove about 50 metres and the car died on me, the engine died out. It became very apparent very quickly that it was a mis-fuelling issue.
"Mainly because I broke down beside somebody else sat there stranded, and they said they'd done exactly the same thing. I looked around and there were cars everywhere, I counted 15."
The 54-year-old driver, from Camberley, Surrey, said "it was clear" the diesel was contaminated. He added: "We have photographic evidence and some people have samples which are going to get analysed."
"I literally just screamed at everybody to shut it down and put cones across the entrance way."
"We all make mistakes but it's how they are dealt with. The customer service just was not there. I'm not worried about compensation, I want them to review their process so if it happens again it will be less stressful for the customer," he said.
A spokesperson said: "There was a brief window of time on Sunday when a small number customers of the petrol station at our Sandhurst Extra refuelled their cars from a fuel tank that had previously been closed due to water contamination.
"We are really sorry for the inconvenience caused and we are looking into how this happened.
"We are contacting customers who have made us aware that they were impacted and we’ll cover the cost of any repairs needed to their vehicles as a direct result of this."