Embarrassment as Emergency Service Vehicles Unable to Refuel Due to Outstanding Bill

There was embarrassment for Alicante city council this week as emergency service vehicles, including the police and fire fighters, and other municipal vehicles, were unable to be refuelled due to an outstanding bill.

The agreement with Ressa (a subsidiary of Cepsa) was temporarily suspended on Monday, but restored on Tuesday morning following negotiations with the successful tenderer, as explained by the deputy mayor and spokesperson for the governing team, from the PP, Manuel Villar.

This situation, denounced by union representatives and by the local PSOE group, would have caused the refuelling cards available to civil servants in these areas to refuel to have been blocked, once the maximum amount of unpaid credit established among the conditions of the supply contract, awarded in 2021 for a budget of 595,356.3 euro had been exceeded.

The situation, which – according to union sources – led to vehicles being stopped and unable to provide service due to a lack of fuel, led the local PSOE group in Alicante to denounce, through a statement, “Mr. Barcala’s disastrous management of the city” by maintaining that “the patrol cars and motorcycles of the Local Police are concentrated at the checkpoint without being able to patrol due to the lack of fuel.” In addition, they add that “the firefighters of the city of Alicante have encountered the same problem.”