FFS, if you're travelling up the A90 north of Brechin, don't stop to fill up at the Stracathro service station:
http://www.thecourier.co.uk/output/2008 ... 2919t0.asp
Petrol price “profiteering”
By Philip Murray
AN ANGUS service station has been accused of profiteering by irate motorists after it emerged its prices were almost 30p a litre higher than elsewhere.
The Stracathro service station has been slammed over its high prices, which yesterday stood just under £1.26 a litre.
By contrast, the nearby Esso garage at Brechin’s Tesco Express store was 29p cheaper.
That means a motorist driving a small car with a 40-litre fuel tank would pay almost £12 more to fill up their vehicle at Stracathro’s Shell garage than they would just four-and-a-half miles away.
The service station has drawn even more flak over its failure to display prices in any of its road signs, leading one driver to accuse it of luring unsuspecting motorists before springing their prices on them at the pump.
Perth man Colin Beveridge was shocked when he stopped to fill up at the garage earlier in the week.
“Everybody else is selling it at 30p a litre less and not only that but they do not advertise their prices on the roadside, so you don’t know what you will pay until you pull up—and by then they have a captive audience.”
He continued, “When I asked at the counter they made no excuse.
“There was a young woman behind the till, and when I asked her if they were seriously charging 125.9p a litre she just looked at me and said ‘we never joke about our prices’ and went on serving somebody else.
“If I’d filled up there it would have cost me £20 extra, so I went down to Forfar and filled up at 94p a litre.
“I think it’s very cynical—a lot of people on that road are covering quite big distances and maybe have to fill up at those services or run out.
“Hauliers also may have no option but to pay for diesel at that inflated price,” he added.
Diesel cost £1.37 a litre at Stracathro yesterday afternoon.
“I don’t know what Shell’s profits were for the last quarter, but BP just made the biggest profit in their history, and whether the price at the services is set by those running Stracathro, Shell or both, whoever does so is taking people for a ride,” Mr Beveridge added.
However, service station owner Pat Melville Evans leapt to the defence of the garage’s prices, saying her hands are tied by the oil companies that sell fuel to her at a much higher price than they do to garages they operate themselves.
“What people don’t understand is that there are two sorts of Shell garage—those owned by the company and those who, while not exactly franchises, are independents with a contract to Shell,” she said.
“I’m the latter, and we’re sold fuel at a spot price by Shell.
“They sell it to us at a more expensive price than to their own garages.
“In effect, they run a two-tier price structure.
“So if I wished to sell my petrol at 99p I would have to make a loss.
“I simply couldn’t buy petrol in for that price, and that is what the problem is.
“In time, hopefully, Shell will pass the price falls on to me and then, in turn, we can lower ours.
“I’ve had several customers come and complain.
“They see the excessive profits at BP and Shell, but don’t realise it’s not in the retail sector, its from extraction, and they use that money to keep their pump prices down.
“Technically, the oil companies shouldn’t cross-subsidise, because it’s against European rules—but they do.
“Effectively, my biggest competitor is Shell, which is what can be very difficult to explain to members of the public—especially when they see the Shell canopy at our station.
“Not so long ago, when fuel was difficult to obtain and some stations ran out, we were accepting a penny loss on each litre sold.
“Even now, when someone buys fuel with a Shell card we only get 0.8p a litre,” she added.
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