Petrol sales ban starts tomorrow

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33454, 8 February 1974, Page 1

Petrol sales ban starts tomorrow

No petrol will be sold to the public from noon tomorrow until 7 a.m. on Monday, in line with the Government’s new regulations to save fuel.

But one service station in Christchurch will he open to sell petrol to those exempted from the regulations. The Blue Star Taxis depot in Moorhouse Avenue would be open to sell fuel, the president of the Canterbury branch of the Retail Motor Trade Association (Mr P. J. Keating) said yesterday. Those exempted from the regulations are ambulance, fire and police services, traffic officers, medical practitioners, ministers of religion, passenger transport vehicles. rural mail contractors, Post Office services, veterinarians, district nurses, some Ministry of Works staff, and drivers of vehicles carrying food, livestock, or milk. People confronted with a genuine emergency will also be exempt from the petrol sales ban, but such people should approach the police to have their emergency claim verified before approaching Blue Star Taxis for fuel, Mr Keating said. The association had advised its members not to sell petrol to anyone unless they were on the exempt list, or I carried written authority

from the police, Mr Keating said. He emphasised that under the regulations, running out of petrol would not be considered an emergency. , The general manager of the

Automobile Association (Canterbury), Mr E. S. Palliser, said yesterday that the association’s breakdown services would continue as usual, but during the periods when petrol sales were banned, running out of petrol would not be regarded as a legitimate breakdown.

The implications of the ban would be considered by a meeting of the services committee of the association’s council today, he said. Yesterday both the police and the Ministry of Transport were largely in the dark about the operation of the regulations, but clarification of the situation was expected to be received from Wellington today.