About Heavy Duty Trucks

Black chemical hits cars

WENDY Woods left her Corio house on Tuesday morning to find her car and her neighbours’ cars covered in a strange sticky black chemical.

Residents of Consedine Court were no closer yesterday to finding out what the mystery substance was.

And their cars were no cleaner either.

Mrs Woods said calls to the Environment Protection Authority and to the nearby Shell refinery had shed no light on the puzzle.

“The EPA said it probably came from trucks off the highway, but we’ve lived here 20 years and we’ve never had anything like it,” she said.

She described the black substance as “very rough, like sand and sticky, like tar”.

Whatever it was, she said, it could not be removed.

“My husband’s a truck driver and we tried heavy-duty truck cleaner and even that wouldn’t work,” Mrs Woods said.

“The neighbours have asked me to contact everyone when I hear anything (from the EPA or Shell).”

She said about 17 cars had been affected by the substance.