News

Cheap gas at bogus pumps

By LEIGHTON WILLIAMS, Staff Reporter

ILLEGAL GAS STATIONS are thriving in the Corporate Area. At these fuel stops gas can be obtained at nearly $10 less than at legitimate stations.

Checks by THE STAR have revealed that the illegal practice is alive and well in sections of Greenwich Farm, as well as communities off Waltham Park Road and Maxfield Avenue.

The illegal stations sell far cheaper than their legitimate counterparts. A five gallon bucket of fuel costs $500 or $600. This means that fuel at an illegal gas station can cost between $25 or $30 per litre, which is at least $9.90 cheaper than at the pumps at the regular service stations, which sell for at least $39.90 per litre for 87 fuel.

At the illegal stations you cannot purchase volumes that are worth below $500. How the illegal gas trade has been allowed to flourish is puzzling to Horace Bryson, first vice-president of the Jamaica Gasoline Retailers Association (JGRA).

"It's a mystery to most of us how they are allowed to continue. There are established principles as to how we get fuel as well as safety procedures. But, they seem to get fuel without meeting these principles," he said.

No safety concern

Safety is not a concern for the operators of illegal gas stations which THE STAR visited. At a location off Waltham Park Road, several young men sat on a wall near to a yard with a tall metal gate and walls. When the news team stopped at the gate, one of the men asked if we wanted fuel. He knocked on the gate and took us into a big yard where two other cars were waiting to be filled. A youth who seemed to be in his 20s was seen sucking gasoline through a hose from a drum which he then poured into a bucket.

'Our attendant' did the same and as soon as the bucket was filled, he asked us for $500.

At first he was reluctant to say where they got fuel from but after purchasing an additional bucket, he told us that the 'big man' had friends who were tanker drivers who supplied him with fuel. He was tight-lipped about how many persons bought fuel on a daily basis but said "all type a people come roun' here, all police come load dem private vehicle but a mostly taxi man come bout."

In Greenwich Farm, one of the operators has even installed a pump from which fuel is sold instead of out of a bucket.

Based on information gathered during our visits, THE STAR learnt that the leftover fuel from deliveries to service stations is dropped off by some tanker drivers at the various locations.

Bryson was unable to put a dollar value on how much the illegal trade has cost the legitimate operators. He added that "as prices go up our sales may remain constant, in that people spend the same amount of money but the volume (of fuel sold) usually falls. But, it's difficult to say if they are to be blamed for the current fall off."

Most of the residents in the communities where the illegal activities take place know about the existence of the stations and were able to tell THE STAR the bad day for business, which was Wednesdays, because of the deliveries on that day. But, they remained quiet about the operations.

The police though said they had heard of the activity and would act soon.

"We have heard allegations but we are still doing our groundwork to find out more so we will be acting soon," said Deputy Superintendent Oswald Ayres of Hunts Bay Police Station.

Deputy Superindent Ayres said the last time illegal gas stations were shut down by the police was in 2002.