Simon Hunter
PEOPLE from all over Spain reported on Saturday long queues at petrol stations as motorists sought to take advantage of the last days of the 20-cent discount that the Spanish government put in place to help with the cost of living crisis caused by the war in Ukraine.
The administration of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced on Tuesday that the reduction in fuel prices would not continue into 2023 for ordinary consumers, and would only stay in place for sectors such as transport and agriculture that require large amounts of fuel.
Prices at the Spanish pumps have been falling for some six weeks now, but that has not stopped motorists from heading to filling stations to take advantage of the last moments of the discount.
According to oil companies such as BP, demand is up 40% in recent days compared to the same period a year before, Spanish daily El Pais reported.
‘I got home at 3am and there was still a queue at the gas station below my house!’ reported Twitter user Jonathan on Saturday.
‘You’re going to spend the same amount of money waiting in line to enter the filling station with all that stopping and starting,’ argued another user, Manu.
Meanwhile, there were reports that customers were waiting more than an hour to fill up at the branch of US wholesaler Costco in the Madrid municipality of Getafe.
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