Saudi fuel pump staff to be fined for selling petrol to hoarders in plastic cans

Saudi Civil Defence has announced stiff fines on fuel stations that sold petrol to hoarders in plastic cans, Emirates 247 reported.

A Civil Defence statement said that each fuel station staff who sold petrol to hoarders will be fined SR30,000. In addition to this, managers of these fuel stations will be charged and sued.

This decision was made after the spread of pictures and videos on social media of fuel stations selling petro to Saudi and expatriate hoarders.

On Monday, Saudi Cabinet announced increase in fuel prices in the Kingdom by more than 50 per cent, following which, fuel stations saw huge crowds.

Pictures and videos went viral on social media which showed people rushing to buy fuel before the new prices came into effect at 12 midnight on Monday.

People were of the opinion that it is better to impose these fine as it will prevent others from breaking the laws in future.

Mohammed, a local, said, “No safety rules were followed that night. These people put themselves and others at risk by selling petrol in this way. Fuel should only be filled into vehicles, not sold in plastic cans.”

Another local, Abdul Aziz, said the decision to hike fuel prices and the selling ban were announced at the same time.

“They should first clearly mention the list of punishments. For example, petrol stations which sell fuels will be fined so much, petrol stations which sell fuels after ban hours will be fined so much, and so on.”