Mobil service station owners in Southland were left with dry pumps again today, after overnight fuel deliveries failed to arrive.
"I've just heard my own advertising on the radio -- what a waste of money," Te Anau Mobil owner-operator Mark Dowling told NZPA.
A delay in fuel deliveries forced Mobil service stationowners in Invercargill, Gore, Te Anau and other rural areas to close their pumps at the weekend.
"I was promised deliveries of 96 octane overnight and 91 octane this morning, but they haven't arrived and there has been no contact from Mobil," Mr Dowling said.
"I'm standing here selling the odd newspaper and twiddling my thumbs, while the other service stations in town are doing great and serving my customers."
Mr Dowling understood a fuel tanker had arrived in Bluff last night but nothing had been unloaded.
"I know Mobil is a big American company, but Mickey Mouse comes from there as well," he said. "They're all playing hide and seek at head office in Wellington."
There was a chance he could receive compensation, but 'it's hard to put a finger on how much I've lost".
In Gore, Christie's Diamond Auto Mobil station owner-operator Doug Christie told NZPA he expected deliveries later today, after Mobil first re-filled their "primary sites".
"We're on the second rung of the ladder. We have a workshop here, so there's still work to do while we have no fuel and my four staff are cleaning up the place to keep busy."
Mr Christie's business had been out of fuel since Sunday.
He had suspected something was amiss last Wednesday when Mobil advised of changes to his delivery schedule but it was not until two day later, when he rang the company, that he learned how serious the problem was.
Mobil spokesman Peter Thornbury blamed the problem on a temporary shutdown at Marsden Point oil refinery just before Christmas and high demand for supplies during the Christmas-New Year period.
