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In Greece a fuel truck distribution strike has now severely affected
supply to the service station network with up to 70% of sites now
reported to have run dry.
Consumers queued for hours at petrol service stations to refuel their cars over the week-end.
"We have demanded an increase of our commission fee by 13%," Giorgos
Tsavos, fuel truck union president, told loval medoa at the week-end. "We
have no other way to fight if we want to save our businesses other than
this strike."
Cars lined streets around stations that still had petrol left. Some queues stretched more than two kilometres.
"I toured 15 petrol service stations across most of northern Athens but none
of them had any fuel left," driver Dimitris Leontaridis told news agency.
"I had not planned for this and now I don't know how I'll get to work
on Monday."
The government said it could not meet truck drivers' demands. "It is not possible to talk about a spike in consumer prices and
then give such increases in commissions," Transport Minister Costas
Hatzidakis said.
Petrol service station owners said they expected the shortage of fuel to
worsen during the coming week. Some have raised the price of a litre of unleaded
fuel by as much as 35%.
PetrolWorld 110508
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