Good old days gone?

Press, 26 August 1980, Page 6

Good old days gone?

PA Wellington Do not expect a return to the good old days with the removal of the week-end petrol sales ban, warns the Motor Trade Association, which controls most of New Zealand’s service stations. “There is no way we can return to the level of services available before February, 1979,” said the association’s executive director, Mr T. Bates, last evening. When the Minister of Energy (Mr Birch) hinted earlier that the week-end sales ban might be lifted, Mr Bates . said service station proprietors would not be

(able to afford the higher .overheads of week-end trading. The profit margin on retail sales of petrol was too low to cover the costs, he said at the time. Last evening he said there had been little changejn the association’s opinion. Indications were that few petrol stations would reopen at the week-ends. “You will get the main highway stations and those in the resort areas, particularly as summer comes in,” he said, “but it will not be as it was before." Mr Bates said the associ-

ation had made it clear to the Minister that there was no way the industry could tolerate an off-oq ban system because of the upheaval it would cause. The association understood from the Minister s decision to lift the week-end sales ban that there would be no more need to impose similar restrictions for at least 12 months. The setting up of the emergency station system required while week-end sales bans were in force had been a big headache for the industry, Mr Bates said.