Agency card restrictions
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• From the beginning of this month, it has been impossible to use any other than a Shell agency card at a Shell garage, and the situation regarding Esso credit facilities is the same.
A spokesman for the Shell-Mex and BP Group told Commercial Motor that this was considered to be more efficient from the operating point of view; handling claims on competitors' cards was more difficult for the company's computer. "This is a logical step in our cost-cutting programme", he said.
According to an RHA spokesman, some of its members have found the short notice at which this step was taken somewhat inconvenient. At the moment, he said, individual members were themselves making their feelings known to the oil companies, and it had not yet been decided whether the association would make representations to the companies on this matter.
It seems unlikely that any of the smaller oil companies will follow the example of the "big two". A representative of one considered that this type of action could only be taken by a company holding a large share of the oil market.