Image: Christian Lylloff

Imagine this: you’re late for a family dinner, you’ve got your wife and kids packed into the car and you decide to top off the tank so you don’t run out of fuel a mile from grandma’s house. Swiping your credit card, you pump just five and a half gallons of fuel before you say, “good enough”. The pump spits out your receipt and you stagger back into your car door: those five and a half gallons of gas just cost you over $300, or $55 per gallon.

Is this the stuff of science fiction? Hardly: it actually happened to drivers in a town outside of Stuttgart, Germany, this weekend. A local Esso (their equivalent of Exxon) station was running low on premium fuel, so they raised the price to $55 per gallon to discourage motorists from tanking up. It proved less than effective, and at least two drivers refused to pay before the police were called to diffuse the situation. In the end, the motorists were forced to pay their bills, but Esso is expected to intervene on a corporate level. A spokesman for Auto Club Europa compared the situation to the black market, and called for a an investigation into unfair price escalation.

What caused the drama? A shortage of premium unleaded fuel, compounded by restrictions on fuel deliveries over the Easter weekend. Logistical problems created by the introduction of E10 fuel only made the situation worse, and some 20% of gas stations in the Stuttgart area were out of premium fuel on Monday afternoon. Think it can’t happen here? Don’t be too sure about that, so always check your fuel prices at the pump before you tank up.

Source: Carscoop