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Fuel crisis: Standstill Britain - Petrol Stations Pressure
increases as the nation's needle flickers towards empty
Source: The Independent - London Publication date: 2000-09-13 VIOLENCE FLARED yesterday as motorists queued to get petrol at filling stations still open for business. Queues of up to a mile were reported at some petrol stations, and the main oil companies reported that between half and 90 per cent of their outlets had run out by midday. BP said two-thirds of its 1,500 stations were out of fuel and TotalFinaElf said nearly all its outlets would be dry by the end of the day. Tesco said all its garages in England and Wales were shut. A fight broke out at a Shell station in Leeds when the driver of a works van and a businessman reached for a pump at the same time. Christopher Priestley, a cleaner at the petrol station on Kirkstall Road, said: "The two men pulled up at a super unleaded pump. One was punched as they battled to get there first. It has become a tragic situation - fighting over petrol." Another employee added: "The bloke in the van just grabbed the pump and the other retaliated by throwing a punch." Police in Bristol were called to a Texaco outlet to deal with a confrontation between two women motorists, and there were similar incidents in Southampton, Newcastle and Manchester. In Greater Manchester, one garage operator shut his business after being abused and threatened with violence. Bob Wharton, 55, who runs an independent petrol station near Oldham, said: "I couldn't describe the abuse I've received ... I've closed up even though we've got petrol left. I don't want any more aggravation." Evidence that motorists are willing to pay whatever is asked to get petrol emerged as a number of filling stations raised prices to pounds 2.50 for a litre of diesel or lead replacement petrol. Clare Barnett, manager of the Bridge Garage in Marlborough, Wiltshire, which was charging pounds 11.37 for a gallon of diesel, said: "Most people drive in here on empty and are relieved to have found some fuel." http://cnniw.yellowbrix.com/pages/cnniw/Story.nsp?story_id=13738995&ID=cnniw&scategory=Energy%3AOil -------------------------------- TIME MAGAZINE -- January 14, 1974 It looked like a hand grenade, so the Albany, N.Y., station operator played it safe and assumed that it was a hand grenade. He gave the man who was toting it all the gas he wanted. Attendants elsewhere last week faced curses and threats of violence, sometimes backed by suspicious bulges in the pockets of jackets. When a huge bear of a man warned a Springfield, Mass., dealer, "You are going to give me gas or I will kill you," the dealer squeezed his parched pumps to find some. "Better a live coward than a dead hero," he said. Such incidents were not exactly common last week, but they occurred often enough, especially in the Northeast, to indicate an outbreak of a kind of gasoline madness. The New Year's weekend was the first time that many drivers became really desperate for gas. Many stations ran out of their monthly allotments as the weekend started and closed until they could get new deliveries after the holiday. Those that stayed open backed up long lines of drivers whose tempers sometimes exploded -- especially if they found the pumps dry when they finally got to them. The gas shortage is sparking other types of deviant behavior. Flouting of the law is on the rise. In New York City, two gasoline tanks trucks, each loaded with 3,000 gallons, were hijacked within a week. Price gouging by station owners has become distressingly common. Miamians complain of having to pay $1 a gallon or being charged a $2 "service fee" before a station attendant will wait on them. At best, many gas station owners and attendants have become unapproachable to strangers; they will wait only on longtime customers. Some issue window stickers to the regulars; others sell by appointment only. Oregon Governor Tom McCall last week rolled into a Union 76 station only to be told by the manager: "Sorry, Governor, we're only selling to our regular customers." So the Governor meekly drove to the end of the line at a nearby station that was taking all comers. |
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