A Rathcoole service station sells petrol that has been brought across the border from Northern Ireland.
A strike by fuel tanker drivers resulted in a shortage of petrol across the country. One service station on the Naas dual carriageway in Rathcoole, County Dublin, has acquired a supply of petrol from Northern Ireland and is selling it to desperate motorists prepared to pay a high price to keep their cars on the road. Motorists formed a long queue prepared to pay £2.25 a gallon, about 45 pence above the normal price.
This garage here on the Naas dual carriageway was one of only two stations open in Dublin today and it had plenty of customers for its petrol.
The garage owner said he had taken delivery of a tanker full of petrol from Northern Ireland but denied claims that he was profiteering at the expense of hard pressed motorists. He justifies the cost saying that he has to pay a high price in sterling and his profit margin remains the same. He says that anyone who has petrol is getting it from Northern Ireland.
Motorists are prepared to pay the higher price to keep their cars on the road and are not concerned that it is black market petrol.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 1 March 1981. The reporter is Charlie Bird.
