Fuel prices drive away business

HAULAGE companies and even Derry City Council are pouring out of Londonderry to buy fuel due to the massive price differences with other regions.

The Consumer Council revealed last week that Londonderry had among the highest fuel prices in Northern Ireland.

A spokesperson for Derry City Council said that it purchases fuel across the border in Donegal and saves around 30,000 a year.

Nicholas Rae from Limavady, who runs JNN Transport said: "We buy most of our fuel in the south. I'm from Northern Ireland and I am British. I hate to see all the money going out of the country. Everybody is going either down south or away from the local area. I would rather do it locally but it is too expensive. There are very few filling stations, there used to be two or three on the Limavady Road but they are all gone now. Everybody seems to be going over the border now."

Private firms are not the only organisations taking their business across the border.

A spokesperson for Derry City Council said: "The Council's annual savings are dependent on fuel prices in each of the states and exchange rates but they have averaged 30,000 per annum over the past three years, thus reducing its fuel bill for Council vehicles by 15%."

Willie Oliver, Chair of the Road Haulage Association and owner of Oliver Transport said: "There are three things at the minute which can account for the price differential between the North West and other areas. As far as north and south goes, the only real difference now is the currency rate. It works out as a very significant amount of money. The south put the tax up by a substantial amount and the difference in price was virtually nothing. But then the euro collapsed. You could save potentially 150 now on a fill of diesel.

"There is also the differential in prices which can be accounted for by the supermarkets. If you take Coleraine, for example, there are a number of big supermarkets competing with each other. Tesco, Asda, Sainsburys; they have the prices so low they must be selling at almost cost price, or even at a loss. They are probably doing that to bring people in to the supermarket, so they can make their money out of the groceries.

"The third thing is to do with distribution costs. It is more expensive in Derry because the vast majority of fuel is brought in up in Belfast, so once it is distributed away from there, there are further costs. That means it is more expensive in the North West, although there is some brought in at Lisahally as far as I know."

Mr Oliver believes there is very little that can be done about price difference, despite calls by Jennifer McCann, Chair of the Finance and Personnel committee in the Assembly, for a meeting with the major fuel suppliers for Northern Ireland: "The major problem with this is that there is very little anybody can do about those three things. The currency rate no-one can control, the supermarkets are dependant on the market and the distribution costs are inevitable. There is nothing anybody can do about it."

Tom from JT Haulage said: "You are talking 1400 - probably a couple of hundred on every fill. I buy in all the fuel at Bridgend. I would definitely welcome it if there was some way to reduce the cost of fuel in Derry so I wouldn't have to go to Bridgend every week."

Gary Edgar from Ardmore who runs G. Edgar transport said: "We buy everything over the border. You are talking big money savings. I would fill out in the North West if it was the same price because it would save a lot of hassle. But you would be chatting maybe 2500, at least 2000 in savings for going elsewhere."

Related topics: