IN GOOD FAITH: Petrol can of worms
A court application demanding payment and to have a contract enforced has opened the applicant to scrutiny by the competition tribunal
In their distinctive red and grey colours, filling stations offering Quest Petroleum products have opened in a number of parts of SA. The company says it is the “largest independent provider of fuel” in the country. But this week, through a bid to enforce a contract with a local outlet, it may have opened a can of worms: in response to a claim by the outlet, the court has referred Quest to the competition tribunal for investigation. Quest has been doing business with 5404 Stanford Road Trust, a Port Elizabeth filling station, for some time, but in March 2016 the two sides signed a new 10-year contract with a tighter settlement framework than before and no credit offered. When the trust put in an order, Quest was meant to respond with an invoice and deliver within 48 hours of receiving payment.The deal ran into trouble almost immediately, and the first invoice, involving over R273,000, has never been paid. Quest has also received no further orders from the trust, whose officials say ...
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