THE LUKOIL in downtown Nicosia’s Nikis Avenue was in chaos yesterday, with long lines snaking around the block and frustration boiling over, as motorists scrambled to fill their tanks at the only petrol station open in the area.
Motorists sat in long lines waiting to get into the station, in long lines to get to the pump, and again in long lines to get back out to the street after they had paid.
While most punters squared the blamed at petrol station owners rather than the government, all agreed that the strike is a punishment and an unfair burden the public.
“This is punishing the people,” said Savvas Evangelou, who stopped by the station late yesterday afternoon to fill his tank.
“It is being done for profit by the owners,” he added.
Another motorist who preferred not to be identified agreed, saying the government had done the right thing.
“I believe it can be solved, there is no reason it cannot be,” he said. “For the Ministry to have made this order, it had to have looked into the issue and seen that there was a problem.”
He added that the petrol station owners are to blame for the closure because they have been engaged in price fixing.
“The first night the stations closed, the prices on the signs of some of [the petrol stations that remained open] rose,” he asserted. “I cannot sit everyday and look at the prices here and the prices in England and calculate if the prices and the litres I buy are right,” he said.
“We have five petrol companies in Cyprus,” he added. “We need five more so this will not happen.”
“The agents make a lot of money. If people watch how many litres they put in their cars and the price of the petrol, they will see they are paying too much. It is unjust for customers to pay this. It is a shame,” he said.
The unidentified man went on to say that despite the closures being the fault of the station owners, it is an inconvenience to the people and bad for business.
“I have customers and I take care of them so that I will not lose them,” he said. “I am a customer here and right now I am being punished. How will I come back another day?” he asked.
Taxi driver Bambos Avgustou said the ministry had the right to impose a cap on fuel prices.
“It is not right that prices in the rest of Europe should be low while prices in Cyprus are high,” he said. “What do we work for, to spend our money on this?” he asked.
Loulla Ioannou agreed. “How can they do this to the people?”
“Cars are all we have, we cannot get around any other way, we have nothing else,” she lamented. “They have no pity for us.”
“If they are doing this for the money, they are unbelievable, but surely it is for the money,” she added.
“They are doing this for profit,” agreed Savvas Evangelou. “And it is punishing the people.”
Michalakis Hadjimichael also agreed. “It is a punishment of the people. It is not right in the 21st century to close the petrol stations and make it so that people cannot get around,” he said.
Dakis Nicolaou was the lone dissenter at the station, claiming that the government is at fault for the closures. “The government does not do ‘good management’,” he said. “It is chaos and it is a management problem.”
The Lukoil does not plan to close down, and has been staying open later to accommodate the extra customers.
