Astron at Quinns Rocks runs out of unleaded petrol after customer fills jerry cans with $500 worth of fuel

A fuel shop attendant says tougher fuel limits are needed after a customer filled jerry cans with hundreds of dollars worth of petrol, emptying the service station. Astron at Quinns Rocks ran dry of unleaded fuel on Monday morning, and was forced to turn customers away. According to shop attendant Aslam Tamin, the service station had sold more than $200,000 worth of petrol in the last week, four times the average after a sudden rush of panic buyers. “I think some people are panicking whereas some people actually need the fuel, because I saw one person this morning who purchased around 500 bucks of fuel, in jerry cans,” Mr Tamin said after having to close the station. “I asked him why, just out of curiosity, and he said that maybe the fuel prices would go up more. “I think we should put limits on the fuel because everybody should be able to get it. Mr Tamin said suppliers typically delivered fuel once per week on a Wednesday to the station, but since the rush that had been scrapped. “Now, it’s after almost two or three days that we have to get that stock. . . just because of the rush.” “We cannot cope with this, we are not getting deliveries all the time. “We have to tell customers the truth, we cannot give them any compensation, but, we can tell them when we will get the delivery. We like setting the price so low for the customers, so that’s a reason (for the rush also).” When asked whether he expected another rush following the next delivery, Mr Tamin said “I think so, yeah”. Fuel Watch has forecast further hip pocket pain, on what should cheap Tuesday, with only six places set to offer fuel under $2 a litre. The cheapest station in WA will be Gracie’s General in Gracetown at 199.0. In the Perth metropolitan area, the cheapest will be the Vibe outlets in Nollamara at 199.5 followed by Hamilton Hill and Mt Helena at 199.9. It comes as trucking companies are expressing concern over the growing price of diesel. Step by Step Removals is reporting an increase of $200 per tank, which owner Joe Picos said adds up quick when there is three trucks to constantly fill up. “I’m definitely concerned, obviously, we’re still in the fairly early stages but we’re thinking if it persists long term then it’s going to be much more of a problem,” he said. “We’re noticing when we fill up the extra cost is definitely hitting us — we’ve been wearing the cost, but long term, we wouldn’t be able to sustain that. “We’re considering applying some type of fuel levy on all of our jobs to cover that cost.” It had also thrown out Mr Picos’ plans to buy a new truck as it would require AdBlue, which is a fuel that mainly comes from the Middle East. “The truck can’t operate without AdBlue so if there’s a shortage of that, it could be even worse than diesel, to be honest, because the trucks couldn’t operate at all,” he said. “We’re looking to use a truck for a 10 to 15 year period so we wanted to buy something new and reduce our maintenance costs but with that AdBlue question mark hanging over things, I think that’s something we have to think about more now.”