‘No price fixing in Ballina’ - garage owner

‘No petrol price fixing in Ballina’ - garage owner


Edwin McGreal

A BALLINA businessman has insisted that there is no tacit agreement between filling stations in the town over the price of petrol and diesel.
A county-wide survey of fuel prices carried out by The Mayo News showed prices in each of the eight Ballina stations surveyed to be well above average.
Six of the eight stations surveyed charge €1.32.9 per litre of unleaded with the other two charging €1.33.9. For diesel the prices ranged from €1.22.9 to €1.25.9.
The cheapest petrol in Ballina is four and a half cent more expensive than the cheapest in other parts of Mayo while the cheapest diesel in Ballina is still three cent dearer than the cheapest station in the county.
When compared to Castlebar, Ballina fares out badly. In fact the cheapest petrol found in Ballina is still more expensive than the dearest station in Castlebar. Ballina used to be considered as one of the cheapest places for fuel in the west.
With prices now high across the board in the north Mayo capital, the owner of one Ballina filling station has insisted that no agreement, spoken or unspoken, exists between the stations in the town.
“There’s nothing going on between the stations. We’re not all the same price. I would be a cent cheaper than a lot of other places. For a long time Ballina was the cheapest around and I was the cheapest in the town,” said PJ Gillespie of Gillespie Motors on the Killala Road in the town.
Mr Gillespie argued that fluctuating global fuel prices have made life difficult.
“What is happening now is that the price of oil is going up and down day by day. You might get it one day at a cheap price and it will be expensive the next day. There’s no point bringing down the prices on the board one day if you have to put them up then the next day. The profit margins are very tight. I’m hoping the price will come down and stay down and I’ll be able to bring my own price down then,” he said.
When contacted by The Mayo News on how various stations set their price, a spokesperson for Topaz, the largest supplier to stations in Mayo, issued the following statement.
“Topaz does not and cannot influence the prices charged by dealers at over 200 sites nationwide. To do so would be in contravention of competition law. Over 100 other stations are company owned sites and the company does set the prices at these sites.
“However different factors come into play at the various sites such as turnover, opening times, staff numbers, the distance from the nearest terminal, forecourt facilities etc. The National Consumer Agency carried out a detailed report on the retail fuels pricing market in
Ireland 18 months ago and this independent report found that the market in Ireland is transparent and competitive.”

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