Lifting the cap on fuel prices
Ballindine and Charlestown cheapest in fuel survey
Edwin McGreal
Last week The Mayo News trawled the length and breadth of the county to see how much value people in different areas were getting for petrol and diesel.
We went from Belmullet to Ballindine, from Ballina to Ballinrobe and the long distance coverered in our survey proved worthwhile - the most extreme prices were found at extreme ends of the county.
The cheapest place in Mayo for petrol according to the survey was in Ballindine at McHugh’s Texaco, a stone’s throw from the Galway border.
While five stations came in with a competitive price for petrol of €1.28.9, McHugh’s undercut that by just enough to stand out on their own of all the stations surveyed by us last Tuesday and Wednesday. Their price of €1.28.4 is the cheapest in Mayo.
At the other extreme the most expensive petrol we found on our survey was some 69 miles away in Topaz on the approach road to Belmullet at a hefty €1.35.9.
The cheapest diesel in Mayo is to be found in another border town, our survey showed. Gallagher’s Service Station on the Kilkelly Road in Charlestown has diesel at a lean €1.19.9 and owner Tommy Gallagher claims it is the second cheapest diesel in Ireland.
The independently run station is certainly the cheapest in Mayo, by a full cent from the neighbouring Freeman Fuels in Kilkelly and two cents cheaper than any other location. The most expensive diesel on our survey was to be found in two filling stations in Erris. Both Topaz in Belmullet and Erris Motors in Bangor were charging €1.27.9 when The Mayo News visited last week.
So how does Tommy Gallagher manage it?
“There isn’t a man or a woman who wouldn’t give their left or right arm to find out where I’m getting my fuel and if you think I’ll put that source in a newspaper, you’ve another thing coming!,” he told The Mayo News.
“A lot of my customers are very happy with the low prices and I would get a lot of people from all over calling in. Fuel is very expensive but we do it as cheap as we can,” explained Gallagher, who is in the business for 40 years.
Charlestown itself was a competitive town in terms of prices while Claremorris was super-competitive, all four stations surveyed selling petrol at €1.29.9 and diesel at €1.21.9, well under the county average. Ballindine, although just a small town, was the most competitive location of all - both McHugh’s and Hennigan’s selling diesel at €1.21.9 and Hennigan’s joint second for petrol in the county behind McHugh’s. The town’s location right on the N17 no doubt plays a big part.
One of the more surprising areas was Ballina. Considered up to recently as one of the cheapest towns around, the north Mayo capital is now one of the most expensive locations in Mayo. All nine stations surveyed had petrol at either €1.32.9 or €1.33.9.
“A year ago Ballina stations were way cheaper but they seem to have steadily crept up. They were probably one of the cheapest in Connacht, much cheaper than Galway or Sligo. The opposite is true now. It is a strange situation, there is no reason why the prices can’t be cheaper,” said Ballina based county councillor Gerry Ginty.
The need for people to shop around for the cheapest fuel is something another councillor stressed.
“People should always try to get the lowest price. Clearly not many shop around or else the cheapest station would be the busiest. Either people don’t know the price or they are too lazy to go to the cheapest place. People tend to fill their €30 or €40 of fuel and have no idea of the price (per litre). If people started filling their car by the litre, they wouldn’t be long discovering how much bang they were getting for their buck,” stated Castlebar based county councillor Michael Kilcoyne, also a former chairman of the Consumers Association of Ireland.
Not every petrol station in Mayo was surveyed. The survey conducted was across all towns in Mayo.
Is there cheaper or dearer petrol or diesel in your area? Email edwinmcgreal@mayonews.ie This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or ring 098 25311
The value in shopping around
Westport businessman Fintan Conlon clocks up 100,000km every year driving for his transport company One Man And His Van. He knows too well the importance of shopping around.
Were he to get all of his diesel at Gallagher’s in Charlestown, the cheapest in the county, he would save €1,600 per annum compared to if he filled up at the two most expensive stations - the two Erris stations in our survey (see opposite page). And that is before you account for other vans in the company’s fleet.
“I would be clocking up a nice mileage every year and a few cent difference per litre equals a fair amount over the year. What I do is plan my routes to hit the cheapest spot around so I can fill up there. Ballina used to be the cheapest around but that has changed,” Mr Conlon told The Mayo News.
In his own town of Westport he has noticed a drop in prices but still feels they could be cheaper.
“Westport is faring okay compared to 12 months ago. For a long time Westport was the dearest around and it used to annoy me to go past local businesses to fill up in Castlebar but I was getting much better value. Thankfully the prices have come down but I still think fuel is a bit of a monopoly in Westport. There is no price war going on, all fuel is pretty much the same price everywhere in the town.”
Meanwhile he has also noticed a worrying change in some of the petrol stations, leading him to wonder are they being tampered with.
“I have a 100 litre tank in my large van. Sometimes I might be running on close to fumes but I never got more than 99 litres into the tank. However in recent times I have been to over a dozen stations where I have managed to get in over 100 litres. My tank hasn’t got any bigger. Are the owners making adjustments? It certainly doesn’t seem right.”
Ballindine and Charlestown cheapest in fuel survey
Edwin McGreal
Last week The Mayo News trawled the length and breadth of the county to see how much value people in different areas were getting for petrol and diesel.
We went from Belmullet to Ballindine, from Ballina to Ballinrobe and the long distance coverered in our survey proved worthwhile - the most extreme prices were found at extreme ends of the county.
The cheapest place in Mayo for petrol according to the survey was in Ballindine at McHugh’s Texaco, a stone’s throw from the Galway border.
While five stations came in with a competitive price for petrol of €1.28.9, McHugh’s undercut that by just enough to stand out on their own of all the stations surveyed by us last Tuesday and Wednesday. Their price of €1.28.4 is the cheapest in Mayo.
At the other extreme the most expensive petrol we found on our survey was some 69 miles away in Topaz on the approach road to Belmullet at a hefty €1.35.9.
The cheapest diesel in Mayo is to be found in another border town, our survey showed. Gallagher’s Service Station on the Kilkelly Road in Charlestown has diesel at a lean €1.19.9 and owner Tommy Gallagher claims it is the second cheapest diesel in Ireland.
The independently run station is certainly the cheapest in Mayo, by a full cent from the neighbouring Freeman Fuels in Kilkelly and two cents cheaper than any other location. The most expensive diesel on our survey was to be found in two filling stations in Erris. Both Topaz in Belmullet and Erris Motors in Bangor were charging €1.27.9 when The Mayo News visited last week.
So how does Tommy Gallagher manage it?
“There isn’t a man or a woman who wouldn’t give their left or right arm to find out where I’m getting my fuel and if you think I’ll put that source in a newspaper, you’ve another thing coming!,” he told The Mayo News.
“A lot of my customers are very happy with the low prices and I would get a lot of people from all over calling in. Fuel is very expensive but we do it as cheap as we can,” explained Gallagher, who is in the business for 40 years.
Charlestown itself was a competitive town in terms of prices while Claremorris was super-competitive, all four stations surveyed selling petrol at €1.29.9 and diesel at €1.21.9, well under the county average. Ballindine, although just a small town, was the most competitive location of all - both McHugh’s and Hennigan’s selling diesel at €1.21.9 and Hennigan’s joint second for petrol in the county behind McHugh’s. The town’s location right on the N17 no doubt plays a big part.
One of the more surprising areas was Ballina. Considered up to recently as one of the cheapest towns around, the north Mayo capital is now one of the most expensive locations in Mayo. All nine stations surveyed had petrol at either €1.32.9 or €1.33.9.
“A year ago Ballina stations were way cheaper but they seem to have steadily crept up. They were probably one of the cheapest in Connacht, much cheaper than Galway or Sligo. The opposite is true now. It is a strange situation, there is no reason why the prices can’t be cheaper,” said Ballina based county councillor Gerry Ginty.
The need for people to shop around for the cheapest fuel is something another councillor stressed.
“People should always try to get the lowest price. Clearly not many shop around or else the cheapest station would be the busiest. Either people don’t know the price or they are too lazy to go to the cheapest place. People tend to fill their €30 or €40 of fuel and have no idea of the price (per litre). If people started filling their car by the litre, they wouldn’t be long discovering how much bang they were getting for their buck,” stated Castlebar based county councillor Michael Kilcoyne, also a former chairman of the Consumers Association of Ireland.
Not every petrol station in Mayo was surveyed. The survey conducted was across all towns in Mayo.
Is there cheaper or dearer petrol or diesel in your area? Email edwinmcgreal@mayonews.ie This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or ring 098 25311
The value in shopping around
Westport businessman Fintan Conlon clocks up 100,000km every year driving for his transport company One Man And His Van. He knows too well the importance of shopping around.
Were he to get all of his diesel at Gallagher’s in Charlestown, the cheapest in the county, he would save €1,600 per annum compared to if he filled up at the two most expensive stations - the two Erris stations in our survey (see opposite page). And that is before you account for other vans in the company’s fleet.
“I would be clocking up a nice mileage every year and a few cent difference per litre equals a fair amount over the year. What I do is plan my routes to hit the cheapest spot around so I can fill up there. Ballina used to be the cheapest around but that has changed,” Mr Conlon told The Mayo News.
In his own town of Westport he has noticed a drop in prices but still feels they could be cheaper.
“Westport is faring okay compared to 12 months ago. For a long time Westport was the dearest around and it used to annoy me to go past local businesses to fill up in Castlebar but I was getting much better value. Thankfully the prices have come down but I still think fuel is a bit of a monopoly in Westport. There is no price war going on, all fuel is pretty much the same price everywhere in the town.”
Meanwhile he has also noticed a worrying change in some of the petrol stations, leading him to wonder are they being tampered with.
“I have a 100 litre tank in my large van. Sometimes I might be running on close to fumes but I never got more than 99 litres into the tank. However in recent times I have been to over a dozen stations where I have managed to get in over 100 litres. My tank hasn’t got any bigger. Are the owners making adjustments? It certainly doesn’t seem right.”
No comments:
Post a Comment