A group of Harvest Energy forecourt operators have held their first sub-postmasters-inspired meeting, to demand action from the Prax Group subsidiary which is tying them to what they say are defunct contracts.
Led by Prem Uthayakumaran, director of the four-strong petrol filling station business Prehybrid, 10 dealers operating around a dozen sites between them, came together at the maiden meeting on Teams last Thursday.
Uthayakumaran is now appealing for other affected dealers to join in monthly catch-ups to hold their supplier to account, just as the Sir Alan Bates group of retailers did with the Post Office over the Horizon IT fiasco.
For 11 weeks, Harvest Energy has failed to deliver petrol and diesel to the 125 dealer sites after the Prax Oil Refinery in Lindsey collapsed in June. Although other oil companies have been stepping forward with short-term contracts, which will become immediately void if Harvest Energy re-starts distributing fuel to the dealers, Uthayakumaran says the situation is untenable.
He says that operators at the first hour-long meeting were full of “disappointment and anger”, and need to be free to set up unhindered long-term contracts to secure their future. “We have had absolutely enough,” he says. “This killing us, and we just can’t carry on for a minute longer.”
He adds: “Every single dealer is feeling this is absolutely ridiculous to still be waiting for Harvest to begin operations with a magic wand to save their problems over night.
“At the meeting there were lots of worried faces, with dealers thinking of the future of their businesses which they have worked so hard to build up.”
The group – which also earlier set up a WhatsApp group – hopes that by coming together they can get answers from the administrators who have been reluctant to engage. The latest communication to dealers on the subject asked them to clear their accounts with Harvest Energy. But some, who are pursuing legal action, are reluctant to hand over what they see as their last bargaining chip.
Tom Dant, who manages three affected sites in Lincolnshire and attended the meeting, says that he has been holding off paying £386,000 owed to the Prax Group for fuel supplied before the problems. Also, he is trying to force the issue of being released from his contract by asking for the £80,000 marketing budget he was promised with this contract but has not yet been given.
Dant is hopeful that retailers will be listened to collectively. “The main aim is to get the legal team to listen to us as a bigger group, which they are not doing with us individually,” he says.
The next step might be to approach the wider press, warns Prem Uthayakumaran. “We are currently trapped in uncertainty, blindsided by the administrators or Prax’s current management, and simply left alone with numerous struggles and losses. For the first time, the majority of the Harvest retailers are beginning to come together to raise strong voices over their pathetic situation.
“Dealers in the meeting have expressed their serious concerns for the coming weeks, months, and if not years. They all believed that they are being held hostage for the circumstances
“We all want to gather momentum with every single dealer and stop the silence of our doomed relationship with Harvest. It is now time that we should all come together to take action.”
Any dealer interested in taking part in the next meeting should contact Admin@prehybrid.co.uk
The administrators of the Prax Group declined to comment.
