Motorists driving past the DATS24 petrol station in the seaside resort of Blankenberge (West Flanders) were surprised by the long queue on Monday evening. Canny West Flemings sensing a bargain enthusiastically joined the queue making it even longer.
Home News
Large queues at Blankenberge petrol station after motorists get 90% discount
Colin Clapson
Published:
What’s more, they were right to do so. As a result of a mistake at the filling station outside the Colruyt supermarket motorists were only being charged a tenth of the regular price. As time progressed and the word spread, people even turned up at the petrol station armed with jerry cans. Some drivers filled up all their cars.
A litre of fuel cost barely 0.15 or 0.18 euros. It was as if the clock had been turned back many years or Christmas or even Black Friday had come early. Drivers enjoyed a 90 per cent discount on their fuel purchase. Fill up with 50 litres of petrol or diesel at either of two pumps, and you were only charged five litres. The news spread so quickly drivers lined up all evening to fill up.
Nearly five hours of cheap petrol
Jean-Christophe Dupas, spokesperson for Virya Energy, confirms the news: "Pumps 1 and 2 did experience problems yesterday evening. It lasted until 10.57pm, when they were shut down”.
The company is investigating what went wrong. Sadly, customers who underpaid, may still get charged, but that’s uncertain. In any case, there were a lot of them, as it had been possible to fill up cheaply from as early as 6pm.