Last week’s Budget was notable for a number of reasons, but the Chancellor’s remark that she was “calling out rip-offs” in the petrol-station sector rubbed many operators up the wrong way. In response, one Manchester retailer decided to dramatically cut the price of their fuel in a flash sale.
Hassan Mohammed, 33, runs two Texaco filling stations in Walkden and Horwich, Greater Manchester, and on Sunday held a one-day event at both sites where he sold unleaded at 120.9p and diesel at 133.9p, down from 130.9p and 137.9p respectively.
This marked the third time Mohammed had held such events, with a sale in 2022 coinciding with record prices that saw fuel selling at almost £2 a litre – but Rachel Reeves’ comments in the House of Commons last week inspired Sunday’s ‘Black Fuel Day’, as Mohammed dubs it.
“A number of factors, like market prices and competition prices, have to align for us to be able to do this”, Mohammed told Forecourt Trader. “But it was partly motivated by the Budget. We were called ‘rip-offs’, and we don’t agree with that”.
Mohammed says two and a half times as many customers as normal visited his two forecourts yesterday, but despite this upswing in trade, traffic management was not an issue.
“We’re fairly used to this. We stationed staff outside to help keep things moving, and there was no issue with queues,” he says.
While open about the fact these events help build customer loyalty and awareness, Mohammed notes that “they don’t bring a net gain, because our margins are so low”, and he can only hold them occasionally because “we have to put resources and profits back into the business”.
Political and commerce factors aside, though, Mohammed says his flash sales are predominantly “designed to give everyone a helping hand”.
