The southern petrol pumps saw a big crowd to get petrol as people wanted to fill their tanks before the impact of GST rise of yesterday comes in to the market. The petrol prices rose up by 7 cents per liter on yesterday as the increase in GST added 4 cents and the rise in excise tax added 3 cents per liter of petrol.

In the Thursday night people rushed in to the petrol stations in the last minutes before the price hike.

The co-owner of Caltex Savoy and Caltex Avenal, Steve Gutsell said on Wednesday that these were the busiest days for the staff and the petrol stations had seen a two and a half times more sale than the normal in those days.

But the sales in the petrol stations remained quieter than previous days after the increase in petrol prices. The sales of petrol rose sharply on Wednesday and Thursday before the price rise but the Friday was quieter as the prices went up. This rise in the prices was a result of GST rise and excise tax rise in recent days.