NSW government targets final 70 service stations in fuel crackdown
Motorists hitting the road over the Anzac Day long weekend are being urged to help authorities in the latest phase of a statewide crackdown on dodgy service stations by reporting everything from fake prices to missing signs.
More than 2300 petrol stations have been visited by NSW Fair Trade since the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission intensified its inspections of malpractice and price gouging in early March.
Since then the NSW government has issued more than 210 fines, nearly 70 per cent of which were in regional areas.
But with only 70 retailers yet to be checked, predominantly in the state’s far west, the NSW government is urging travelers to use Bowser Busters, a portal that reports price discrepancies, to help authorities get the job done.
Drivers have so far helped authorities bring down dozens of service stations; These include a service station in the NSW Snowy Mountains that displayed diesel at $3 per liter but was found to be advertising $1.96 per liter on the FuelCheck app.
An inspection of an unmanned 24-hour service station in Walgett Shire found that required signage was not displayed, while two service stations in Upper Murray were found to be selling diesel without any signage.
NSW Fair Trading Minister Anoulack Chanthivong said authorities were asking drivers to help news organizations “take them for a ride”, with a robust re-inspection regime targeting more than 750 stations.
“These audit and compliance figures show the Minns Labor government will not back down as cost-of-living pressures mount,” he said.
“My message to gas stations is clear: If you do the wrong thing, you will get caught.”
NSW Fair Trade consumer affairs general manager Andrew Floro said inspectors would continue operations targeting compliance ahead of the long weekend.
He said this would ensure “motorists traveling to regional and rural NSW can rely on FuelCheck when planning their journey”.
Data reveals compliance bombardment
Service stations in the southern highlands, south coast, mid-west and Riverina reported the highest number of price discrepancies.
More recently, Cobar and Lake Cargelligo stations in the state’s west were the furthest areas targeted by the latest compliance checks, with only around 70 retailers in neighboring areas remaining on NSW Fair Trading’s radar.
Outlets found not to have fulfilled their obligations will face an immediate fine of $1,100 and fines of up to $110,000 may be imposed upon court decision.
Since March, NSW Fair Trade staff have been conducting high-visibility, on-site compliance operations across the state, from Manly to Moree.
The number of planned operations has increased tenfold since before the Iran war, and more than 3,300 on-site inspections have been conducted.
Most of these are re-inspections, including the Sydney, Central Coast, Hunter Valley, Riverina, Far West and Orana regions.
Nearly 40 per cent of all penalty infringement notices were issued through the Bowser Buster portal, which allows drivers to report dangerous practices, including the FuelCheck NSW app.
Of these, 88 involved price discrepancies that exceeded the number of notices issued by inspectors in the field.
Approximately 80 percent of all notifications were issued for price discrepancies.
The remainder were given to service stations that did not comply with the information standard or were not registered with FuelCheck NSW.
The value of breach notices issued to date is approximately $230,000.
