Metro

Queens gas-station owner spills on shortage and line lunacy

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(Reuters)

A Queens gas-station owner says the fuel shortage could be fixed instantly if panicky drivers calmed down and hoarders, profiteers and scammers were stopped. In the two weeks since Hurricane Sandy, he’s been cursed at, spit on and nearly punched in the face by motorists. Fearing reprisals from his supplier, he requested anonymity to relate his experiences from the front lines of the fuel lines to The Post’s Kathianne Boniello.

New Yorkers, stop being stupid.

I’ve never seen such incredible selfishness in my entire life. This fuel shortage is bringing out the worst in people.

At first, I set a $40 limit for customers. I wanted to accommodate everyone if I could. All I’ve gotten for my efforts is two weeks of hell.

There’s been an unbelievable amount of greed, and hoarding, especially with people using gas cans. One person was caught selling a 5-gallon can of gas for $300. I called the police after a family of five kept rotating through the line so they could get around my $40 limit and go make a buck by reselling the fuel themselves.

I started seeing a lot of people bringing Poland Spring bottles and laundry detergent bottles to put gas in. One woman had a watering can. I tried to explain to her that it’s illegal, and unsafe, to put gas in a container like that. All she said was “Why?”

I’ve spent so many hours here, trying to watch over the property, that I’ve lost track of what day it is. One of the first nights, I caught someone with a monkey wrench trying to take apart one of my gas pumps.

I finally banned gas cans because they were too much hassle. But motorists are no better. I kicked a cabdriver out of my station after catching him trying to put 25 gallons of gas into containers. No cab has a gas tank that big! Who knows if people like that are hoarding, or trying to profit?

Most of the people waiting for gas at my station don’t even need the fuel. I’ve looked inside most of the vehicles, and I’d say about 70 percent of them have three-quarters or half of a tank of gas. I’ll tell the driver, “There’s no need for you to be here.” They say, “Oh, I just want to top it off,” or “I just want to make sure I have it.”

You just want to make sure you have it? Come on. I don’t think people realize how much gas they’re wasting with all this panic buying. When you sit in your car and idle, and you have the heat going, you actually burn quite a bit of fuel. One gentleman pulled up here in a big Lexus SUV and waited in line, only to yell at me because we had run out of premium gas and didn’t tell him.

One woman needed gas for a trip to Target; another driver was heading to Costco. Somebody said something about needing to go get an iPad.

Meanwhile, lots of first responders are running on empty. I know a lot of police officers have been sleeping in their vehicles and sleeping at the precincts. I don’t think that’s safe for any of us.

I chose to allot a certain amount of my fuel to first responders, as long as they show identification — but people only care about themselves. One woman went ballistic when I shut down the gas line to sell to first responders. I explained to her what I was doing, but she just cursed me out and spit on my jacket. I was too exhausted to argue with her.

Others lie to get what they want. One man claimed to be a first responder, because his young daughter is paralyzed. Another woman tried to pass herself off as a first responder to get her son to a specialized elementary school. I sympathize with people’s issues, but you don’t get priority just because you don’t want to wait in line.

It’s clear some people are full of it. One young kid said he had a sick mother in the Rockaways, then sat here, gunning his engine. I could tell he was lying, and when I told him to leave, he came right up and was about to swing at me. He stepped back when a police car pulled into the lot.

And those are the days that I actually have fuel in my station’s tanks. Deliveries have been haphazard, and our suppliers aren’t telling any of the owners when we can expect more. I’m glad Mayor Bloomberg finally put some kind of rationing in place, but the odd/even license plate system only applies to personal cars. I’ve seen too many commercial vehicles and cabdrivers hoarding. But I can’t comment on how the system’s doing because I’ve had no gas to sell in the last two days.

There are so many good customers in the neighborhood who come every day to buy fuel, and, right now, I can’t even give it to them because of those who are too greedy or panicked about the shortage to listen to reason.

But there’s a simple fix: Stop being stupid.

The Big Apple continues to be gaso-lean:

* Today is Nov. 11, so only odd numbered license plates can buy gas.

* The odd/even gas rationing will remain in effect until further notice, a City Hall spokesman said.

* Seven out of 57 fuel terminals, where gas-distribution tankers fill up, remain shut down.

* It could takeanother twoweeks at least beforebuying gas returns to normal.