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Gas station in France (icon image)
Photo: Jean-Francois Badias/AP
In protest against the explosion in petrol prices, a gas station operator in France has closed its pumps without further ado.
"We refuse to sell fuel at €2.50 per liter, we do not support theft," wrote gas station attendant Olivier Thomas on notes he pinned to his pumps in the town of Saint-Paulien.
This is reported by the France 3 broadcaster and the newspaper "Le Progrès".
Within days, the price of petrol rose from 1.80 to 2.19 euros.
If he had now refilled his large tanks, he would have had to sell the petrol for 2.47 euros, says Thomas.
Even his computer program gave him an error message when he entered this price: he should not enter incoherent data.
Enough with the complaints
The attendant also said he was fed up with drivers complaining about the price increase.
The world market forces him to pay the price.
According to the gas station attendant, he was able to take the unusual step because he earns most of his money selling other goods in his gas station shop in the rural area.
"I can't sell a product for 2.47 euros knowing that I only earn 0.04 cents per liter without tax," says Thomas.
Thomas initially reserved the little petrol currently remaining in his tanks for regular customers and for fire brigade vehicles.
ptz/dpa