Fuel: in Yvelines, the oil depot still blocked, stations remain dry

“I still don’t have any fuel. However, I am the closest station to the depot. » Olivier gets annoyed. This Total manager from Coignières (Yvelines) has seen his store’s turnover drop since Monday. “We can no longer work without fuel. ” Indeed, several Total service stations in Île-de-France are affected by shortages… because they are not delivered.

Just a few kilometers away, truck drivers who ensure supplies have been blocking the Raffinerie du Midi, the Coignières oil depot, since Monday. They are opposed to a project which consists of putting cameras in the cabins of subcontractors’ heavy goods vehicles from January.

An idea which would have been abandoned on Wednesday evening, the group announced. But the strikers, around twenty of them taking turns, are waiting for an official document from their employers before calling off the strike. “Some people sleep in their trucks. With the wide-angle camera we will no longer be able to sleep naked,” laughs one of the employees.

Shortages that create tensions

“They say it’s for safety. We chose this job for the freedom,” insists an employee of a Total subcontractor. For its part, the oil giant wanted to be able to detect fatigue, distraction, collision, excessive acceleration or even failure to respect safety distances.

Despite the withdrawal of the project, the shortage should continue for a few days at the pump. In the neighboring town of Élancourt, a motorist discovered it this Thursday. “You have nothing,” he questions. All stations are empty. I have the company’s Total card. I can’t go anywhere else, otherwise I pay out of my pocket. » The seller at the gas station only learned yesterday that it would not be delivered. “We have fewer people,” remarks Malik. We mostly have angry people. They attack the first person who comes along. »