Gull's reach stretches to Waipapa

Ngati Rehia kaumatua Kipa Munro shares a hongi with kuia Blossom Silich during the blessing of Waipapa's new Gull fuel station, while Dover Samuels and Gull retail development manager Karl Mischewski await their turn. Photo / Peter de Graaf

The "Gull effect" could arrive in the Far North today with fuel due to start flowing at Waipapa's new Gull station as early as this afternoon.

The self-service, card-only fuel station was blessed by Bay of Islands hapu Ngati Rehia on Friday morning.

Gull retail development manager Karl Mischewski said on Friday some technical problems with the dispensers' electronics still had to be resolved and final sign-offs were needed from the Far North District Council and NZTA, but he hoped the site would be open for business by Monday afternoon.

The pump price would not be known until opening day. Even then it could be adjusted depending on how BP reacted on the other side of SH10.

He said he was looking forward to "waking up the giants", a reference to the big four fuel companies.

Waipapa was as far north as the company could go. Any further north would not be viable because Gull's fuel was transported from Mt Maunganui.

The new site is next to the retail area at Waipapa but has direct access from SH10.

The "Gull effect" is a term coined by the AA to describe how rival service stations drop their prices when Gull arrives in town.

The cut-price petrol era arrived in the Far North when a self-service Allied site opened at Kaeo on August 1.