15 Oct 2011

Northernmost petrol station to carry on after fire

2:03 pm on 15 October 2011

The owner of the country's northernmost petrol station at Waitiki Landing, 23km south of Cape Reinga, says he will overcome a devastating fire that destroyed his premises last week.

Carl Pascoe says his petrol pumps are unusable but the shop is running on a makeshift basis from a restaurant.

He is providing an emergency supply of petrol for people who turn up with an empty tank but other customers have to travel 50km to Houhora.

When this petrol station closes at the end of the month the nearest petrol station will be 100km south at Awanui.

"We have fantastic support from our supplier and from our insurance company.

"Everybody is working extremely hard, including the local community who are lending us all sorts of equipment," he said.