Chaos, down systems and nervousness on the first day of fuel discount: a "horrible" morning that will get worse

It is

and in a small gas station in the north of Madrid, the five pumps are occupied by customers.

"They've been like this all morning," he comments to a neighbor who walks his dog, the doorman of the farm across the street, while he mends the hedge.

Hours later, the cashier at the same station tells a client about a busy morning with journalists recording between their pumps and even

who seems to be more concerned about the inconvenience it will cause in the future -there are cameras that record customers and the license plate has been recorded - than for the theft itself.

In any case, the worst, they point out from the sector, is yet to come.

"The whole day is going to be horrible and it's going to get worse," complains in a telephone conversation with EL MUNDO

, who has service stations in Guipúzcoa, Málaga, Navarra and La Rioja.

"He is being very crazy and the problem is that you have spent the whole week without selling a liter, with empty gas stations, without being able to work," he recalls and now, "everyone at once."

at 3:00 p.m.

, with people who load the deposit after leaving work and there are those who expect large queues and even shortages at certain points if they follow this rhythm.

David Alameda, a partner in the Ballenoil group, agrees: "It's an avalanche."

On Friday, he contextualizes, there is "the perfect storm for this to blow up" because the beginning of the month comes together with the deposits that were waiting empty for the start of the sale and a day in which there is traditionally a lot of work.

"It's being crazy and

," he warns.

"From the first hour, from six without stopping," confirms the employee of another gas station.

At the time of the visit, mid-morning,

, although there is a constant presence of vehicles and the fuel hoses barely spend time holstered.

The trend is that the larger the station, the more queues are formed, while in small ones it is easier to receive attention from employees who have not had a break.

"What a day," sums up laconically, but with a smile, the cashier of a huge establishment, with a supermarket and cafeteria, in the Plaza de José María Soler.

There are small queues, hustle and bustle, mobility agents at the roundabout from which you enter the premises and lively conversations before paying.

A taxi driver has problems getting a bill and another explains that he goes to this station because he has a gas pump.

The cashier, in any case, does not have time for much more than to be thankful that the purchase - a peach juice that gives the right, on average, to

- is simple.

Between haste, nerves and mistrust, there is little desire to talk.

Hours later, an employee must notify those waiting to refuel that they will not be able to apply the discount because

.

From Repsol they recognize that "there has been a peak of operations and this is slowing down the system", but they explain that "it is something specific" and that the system itself has not crashed, it has simply had to face a Friday in which operations have been "multiplied by five" compared to a normal one.

As it is a discount per liter, the gas stations must apply it to the price they mark on the totem and the pumps so that the receipt collects it as such.

"I have had a day to adapt and that the discount of 20 cents appears on the ticket," says Muñoa.

Today, he explains, he can collect, but he still can't issue invoices because he hasn't had time to adapt and test the collection tool.

"Who pays me for a day and a half that I've spent talking to the computer service and doing tests?"

Muñoa also complains that the way in which the discount is proposed, which is applied by the gas stations and then returned by the Government, endangers their survival, since not all of them can afford the cost of selling at a loss, and even less so for three months.

"At service stations, no matter how Repsol or Cepsa puts out, there is a family behind it," he recalls.

"It's very easy to say that the fuel goes down by 20 cents; it's like saying that I'll buy you a round, but the bar pays for it," he illustrates.

"The brown leaves it to the gas stations themselves:

," continues the businesswoman.

Likewise, sources in the sector regret that the rumor is spreading that prices have risen, when they consider that it is impossible to do so because then users would go to the competition.

"A girl who we have not been able to charge told us that we were thieves and that we were keeping the discount," says the owner of a gas station.

"But if I have to put it myself!", she laughs.

In the station of a small street in Madrid, the problem is caused by the card of a client who, due to the pressure of the moment, has forgotten the pin code.

"I haven't even been able to sit down yet," laments the employee to kill time while the driver looks for another card (which, this time, works perfectly).

The conversation, in any case, does not last long: this person's car does not allow access to the next pump and the drivers enter to rebuke.

"He's standing in line," argues one of them who receives the approval of the one who will be his successor in the hustle and bustle of the pump.

It's still early and the fuel reserves are still full.

.

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