PETROL station bosses have begun an investigation into whether heavy rain caused water to get into a fuel pump.

Kay Group managing director Richard Cox said contractors were looking into an incident at the Eastern Avenue Service Station in Burnley, which could have been related to the weekend downpour.

Julie McNulty said her car had broken down shortly after a visit to the petrol station on Saturday.

Julie, 41, of Hodder Street, Burnley, a newspaper sales executive, said: "I was on my way out on Saturday night and stopped at Eastern Avenue to just put £6-worth of fuel in.

"When I got down the road the car started juddering a bit, and as it's only nine months old I thought something must be wrong.

"When I got to the Spar shop in Todmorden Road I had to pull in and stop so I called the RAC out. By the time they arrived I had had to cancel my night out.

"Now the car is in the garage and I'm not sure how long it will be until I get it back.

"I noticed the petrol station was closed later on and I wondered if it could have been the petrol that caused the problem."

Mr Cox said: "We are in the process of investigating an incident at Eastern Avenue on Saturday.

"All we can say at this stage is that I'm advising anybody who wishes to make an inquiry to contact us here.

"There was possibly a problem with the petrol and on Saturday we isolated the pump that we thought we had a problem with.

"It looks like it could be connected with the weather but we will know more when we get a report from our contractor."