As far as I know, the authorities announced that petrol was supposed to go up to €1.54 per litre yesterday morning.

Then I would like to ask how, on Sunday, I went to four different filling stations and the prices were already up from €1.49? In the end, I had to pay the asking price but I had to go to work and it was getting late. In the end, I got 12.99 litres of unleaded petrol for the price of €20, when I should have got more.

Sometimes, Maltese people laugh at each other when we see people crowding in to get fuel when a hike has just been announced. But, at the end of the day, if this is what we have to put up with, insomuch that people are getting fleeced out of their money (because of stations putting the price up abusively before the increase comes into effect), then the people are right to behave the way they do. Abuse of the customer is just rampant in Malta and it just doesn’t get any better. When we are talking about petrol procured by a government entity, which is then sold on by third parties at a more expensive rate than it should be, then it really does become theft.

Enemalta should look into this, because in being passive to such incidents, it is aiding and abetting illegal abuse in not taking action. This comes at a time where petrol has really become expensive. Of course, nothing will happen.

■ Anthony Zammit

Swieqi