Fuel rationed at garage after customer surge

The owner of a Guernsey petrol station has limited the amount of fuel people can buy after a surge in customers amid rising global fuel prices.

Whiteway Motors in Vale was selling unleaded petrol for 156.5p a litre compared to the average island petrol price of 163.5p, according to Guernsey Fuel & Oil Watch.

The war in Iran has caused fuel costs to rise sharply in the past month as a key passage for ships carrying oil has been blocked as part of the conflict.

Andre Whiteway said his station had been "bombarded" by customers on Tuesday and he chose to limit the amount people could buy to avoid running out of fuel.

He said he made the decision to ration petrol to make it fair for all his customers.

"We've got like 13,000 litre capacity of unleaded," he said

"Over the weekend, we were busy, ordered the fuel yesterday but they couldn't get here till this morning so we had to just be fair to others, we rationed it just to make sure everybody had fuel till today."

Whiteway said he was able to keep prices lower as his fuel supplier did not increase costs from "ship to ship".

"So what they pay for that fuel when it comes in, I get charged that," he said.

"When the last shipment came in, there wasn't much increase, so I've managed to keep my prices where they are."

He said an increase in customers at his petrol station was an "an understatement".

"We're just getting bombarded, really. I mean the quantity of fuel we are selling is just extortionate, really," he said.

He said he tries to make his prices as low as possible.

"It's a tough world at the moment and every penny counts so I try and just keep my profit margins small but the quantity we do makes up for that," he said.

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