99 minutes of petrol price bargains at the pumps

A PETROL price war broke out between two competing service station giants yesterday who slashed their prices for Black Friday.

It began when Topaz announced it would be slashing the price of its petrol and diesel to 99c for a 99 minute period at 17 stations across the country.

Not to be outdone, Applegreen responded by reducing its prices to 98c at five stations.

The promotions caused tailbacks and traffic jams on both sides of Stillorgan Road in Dublin as customers flocked to gain from the time sensitive offers.

Almost 30 cars were queueing outside each station yesterday afternoon when the Irish Daily Mail visited, with some being turned away by gardaí in an attempt to manage the flow of cars.

A spokesman for Topaz said: ‘Topaz liaised with gardaí in advance to help plan and manage customer demand.’

An Applegreen spokesperson said its price cut had not been in response to the Topaz deal but as part of a campaign. Despite the freezing temperatures, many customers braved the cold to top up their tanks on the cheap.

Chuan Sun, 33, picked up her children from school and was on the way home to North Strand when she filled up her tank in Topaz. ‘I saw it online and I knew I could drop in after I picked my children up,’ she said. ‘It can be so expensive. It’s great that this was here!’