KEY POINTS:
Devonport is rejoicing at the survival of its last remaining petrol bowsers, after a multinational oil company reversed a decision to shut off the feisty Auckland community's fuel supply.
Amid a spontaneous combustion of protests from residents, mainly by email, oil major Chevron has agreed to keep its
Caltex brand of petrol and diesel pumping at what is the only service station for about 4km.
It was not for lack of business that supplies were in doubt, as sales at independently owned Tainui Motors on Vauxhall Rd have surged since two other Devonport outlets stopped selling fuel.
But owner Vic Martin, who has run the station since 1994 and counts five family members among his staff, says slender retail margins meant he could not provide a hefty new financial guarantee sought by Chevron for the higher volume of fuel being pumped.
He said slender margins of 5c for each litre of petrol, and 3c for diesel, meant he had to rely on his warrant-issuing workshop and trailer hires to subsidise the pumps.
Although he believed the business could survive without selling petrol, he said the pumps were the main drawcard for the other activities, and customers reacted swiftly when he posted a notice saying they were to close on June 27.
"When the Devonport community kicked up bobsy-die, Caltex had another look at it," he said.
"When people heard, the speed of their response was unbelievable - it went completely out of our control."
Mr Martin, who migrated from Barbados in 1964, said he appreciated that the oil industry wanted financial guarantees in the face of large cost demands to cope with global supply challenges.
But he said: "It may be all right for the big fellows to come up with guarantees, but lots of fellows like us, we're just too small."
Devonport resident Nicki Green, delivering her car on Friday to the workshop headed by Mr Martin's son Barry, said she was "absolutely horrified" when she heard the station's tanks were to run dry.
"It is the only place I know where they come out to pump the petrol for you - I don't know where else you get that sort of service."
There was no other fuel outlet south of Hauraki Corner, which was already very busy and constrained by being on the main road between Devonport and Takapuna.
Life-long Devonport local John Gore said Chevron's rethink was excellent news, particularly for elderly residents who did most of their driving around the suburb.
Mr Martin's brother Mike, manning the pumps, said one woman told him she emailed "Chevron New Zealand, Chevron Australia, Chevron Singapore and Chevron Manila".
Chevron Caltex spokeswoman Sharon Buckland said she was unaware of any such global email traffic, although she acknowledged receiving strong expressions of support for Tainui Motors from Devonport residents.
She said the company had already been reviewing a decision it made jointly with Mr Martin to stop supplying fuel, in a bid to reach a workable solution to his station's growing pains, and did not believe the community forced a backdown.
"Vic agreed - it wasn't us bullying him into it," she said. "But it was useful for us to know the community was so supportive."
Ms Buckland said one problem was that the station's storage tanks were too small to cope with the extra demand, and had to be resupplied by road tankers three or four times a week.
That was upsetting some of Mr Martin's neighbours, from whom she said the company was receiving complaints "all the time".
But she was not at liberty to discuss private arrangements with Mr Martin.
