Petrol stations in Kimberley assure motorists that they have enough supply of fuel after “panic buying” hits city.
PETROL stations in Kimberley have advised residents not to panic about fuel tanks running dry as they have enough supply.
This follows after a large number of panicked motorists in the city made their way to various petrol stations to top up their tanks as concerns grew over the violent unrest that hit parts of the country
Owners and managers of petrol stations said that they have witnessed an influx of customers over the past few days following the announcement that the refinery in KwaZulu-Natal had been closed due to the ongoing violence and looting in that province.
The manager of the Caltex petrol station on the corner of Du Toitspan and Lennox streets, Shaistha Kadir, said on Thursday that there is no shortage of petrol.
“We receive our supply for petrol from the depot in Kroonstad. We had a delivery this morning (Thursday),” said Kadir.
“We were very busy on Wednesday evening as people came to panic buy. It was unusually busy and we had not taken any precaution for panic buying since we were not expecting it. We had enough supplies to assist our customers.
“We usually see motorists rushing to the pumps when a petrol hike is announced and we also make the necessary arrangements to have extra supplies because of that trend. However, this time around we were taken aback when we saw motorists rushing to the pumps.”
Kadir added that despite the panic buying by motorists, their fuel supplies were still adequate.
“We are luckily not affected by the violence and instability experienced by other parts of the country. We are on a different supply line. We will still be able to meet the needs of our customers,” she said.
The manager of Shell in Long Street, Stephan van Niekerk, also assured motorists not to panic.
“We are covered in terms of fuel supplies as our deliveries are from the Kroonstad depot. We had two deliveries this morning (Thursday). We have sufficient stock to assist motorists for the coming days.
“There are also many depots across the country, so people need not panic. Should one depot run out of stock then there will be others where one can order from. The various petrol stations in the city also will be able to supply the residents in the city should one of the station’s tanks run out of stock. We can assure customers we have enough petrol available and are awaiting more deliveries,” said van Niekerk.
The owner of Go petrol station in Cater’s Road, Drienie de Boer, said her tanks also have enough fuel.
“We receive our petrol deliveries from Mossel Bay in the Western Cape. We have experienced an influx of motorists who came to fill up earlier this week. However, we do still have enough supply to last a few more days. We are not affected by the looting that is currently happening in the other provinces and will still receive deliveries in the coming days,” said De Boer.
