Desperate drivers, desperate get-away
June 12, 2008
By Ingi Salgado and Sapa
High fuel prices are leading some South African motorists to take desperate measures, such as filling up and driving away from service stations without paying. It’s a relatively unexpected development given the presence of petrol attendants at the point of sale on forecourts.
Fuel Retailers’ Association chief executive Peter Morgan said yesterday that an incident in which an Empangeni petrol attendant was knocked down and had to be hospitalised on Tuesday night was not isolated.
“There have been about 10 similar incidents over the past month,” Morgan said. “Every motorist all over the country is feeling the same pain … As soon as fuel prices increase, motorists fill up and speed off.”
The price of 95 octane petrol sold in Gauteng rose to R9.96 a litre this month. On January 2 the price was set at R7.47 a litre.
Graeme Yager, a corporate planning manager at oil company Chevron, said there had been similar reports in overseas markets with self-service stations, although closed-circuit television monitoring tended to act as a deterrent. The group’s South African retail division had not yet been affected.
Retailers say high fuel prices have also led to rising incidents of cheque fraud and an array of excuses about not paying.
Wessel Strauss, the chairman of the SA Petroleum Retailers’ Association, which represents about 1 200 retail outlets, said there had been three incidents of cheques bouncing in the past three days alone. “People are asking for R100 of fuel and when it’s in the tank, they say they only asked for R50,” said Strauss. If a driver refused to pay, the service station incurred the expense of calling a mechanic to drain the vehicle.
High fuel prices were starting to eat into the working capital of service stations. Strauss estimated that since the start of the year, about 15 percent of South Africa’s 4 500 retail outlets had closed down as a result of higher fuel prices. “The smaller sites that don’t have big turnover are really suffering.”
Morgan said he had urged retailers to put up signs saying petrol attendants would ask motorists how they intended paying for fuel before filling up.
Mounties Ambulance Service spokesperson Joseph Kruger said the 29-year-old Empangeni petrol attendant had suffered suspected spinal injuries and an injury to his hand.
The attendant told paramedics that he fell onto the bonnet when the motorist sped off. When the driver continued to accelerate, the attendant fell off and was hit by a wheel.
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