If you think things are bad here with regards to having to comply with Fuel Finder regs, pity the petrol retailers in New South Wales, Australia.
The Australian version of Fuel Finder is called FuelCheck and motorists in New South Wales (NSW) are currently being urged to ‘stay vigilant’ and report any fuel price discrepancies via FuelCheck or the NSW Fair Trading website. NSW Fair Trading says consumer feedback strengthens its compliance work, allowing inspectors to identify issues faster and act sooner.
Daily visits to the FuelCheck app and website stood between 8,000 and 10,000 in January, but by the end of March, had risen to around 500,000 each day
Over the last fortnight, the government fast-tracked a statewide fuel price compliance blitz to “strengthen fuel price transparency and protect motorists from misleading pricing”.
Around 75% of sites in NSW were inspected by the beginning of April, with around half located outside Sydney. Inspectors carried out just under 1,800 service station inspections across the whole state during this period, issuing 93 penalty infringement notices. Penalties were issued for mismatches between pump prices and FuelCheck listings, as well as suspected price exploitation following fuel excise cuts.
Retailers who break the rules face on-the-spot fines of $1,100, or court penalties of up to $22,000 for individuals and $110,000 for corporations.
As this was going on, the NSW government announced a $2.2m injection into FuelCheck to upgrade the system. This will be spent on things such as better data collection, specifically making it easier for retailers to enter data about their fuel supply.
Elsewhere in Australia, a petrol station in Perth was forced to sell the most expensive diesel in Western Australia after an employee made a typing error and added $1 onto their prices. This is because Western Australia’s FuelWatch scheme does not allow retailers to make corrections to their entries. According to news.com.au, the retailer involved got round the problem by offering a $1 discount for just one day.
