Pain at pumps at $1.70 per litre
MOTORISTS are being urged to fill up now with recordbreaking petrol prices expected on the Gold Coast.
The RACQ has predicted that Gold Coast fuel prices will reach an eye-watering $1.70 a litre for unleaded petrol by the end of this week.
The news does not get any better with further predictions our fuel will not dip below $1.40 again.
RACQ spokeswoman Lucinda Ross said global tensions, a weak Aussie dollar and anti-competitive behaviour were fuelling the price hike.
“We have a perfect storm here at the moment which is driving up prices at the bowser,” Ms Ross said.
“The US sanction of Iran is contributing to a rise in the global oil price, the Australian dollar has weakened and some Gold Coast service stations have hiked their prices.
“We are heading towards a four-and-a-half year record in Brisbane if we see an average price of 165.6 cents per litre and, typically, the Gold Coast tends to follow a few days after.
“We’re expecting a record for the Gold Coast by Thursday, so fill up now or risk having to pay as much as 169.9c per litre for fuel.”
Ms Ross said we might never see fuel dip below $1.40 per litre again.
“The bottom of the price cycle on the Gold Coast is now and this is as cheap as it’s going to get,” she said.
“On the Gold Coast we’re already seeing the hike start so drivers need to fill up now at around 140c per litre if they can find it because good prices won’t be around for long.
“When real-time fuel monitoring is introduced in December drivers should use the technology to find the cheapest place to fill up and this will help drive competition and bring down prices. “
Motorists looking for cheap fuel were queuing at the independently owned Freedom Fuels at Arundel to get it for 137.7 cents a litre.
Weekend manager Jono Francis, who has worked at Freedom for seven years, said the service station had been “extremely” busy since the Commonwealth Games, when service stations Coast-wide hiked up their prices.
“We’ve always remained one of the cheapest,” he said.
“We’re always busy but we’ve been extremely busy today. When fuel prices rise we become even busier.
“We work two tills at once and people line up because of the cheap fuel and the service.
“I’ve had a person drive down from Logan because their friend told them how cheap we are.
“It’s crazy.”
David Callahan from Helensvale was filling up at Freedom and said fuel prices on the Coast were “out of control”.
“Considering fuel has been the cheapest by the barrel that is has been in a while, you would think they could pass that onto customers,” he said.
The BP on Brisbane Road was selling fuel at $1.49 per litre for ULP, the Caltex at Biggera Waters was at $1.41, United at Labrador was $1.37.5 and Coles Express at Biggera Waters was $1.51.
Service stations on the Gold Coast were selling diesel for around the $1.65 mark.