The faded billboard guaranteeing “the cheapest gasoline in Lozère”, stationed at the entrance to the station, makes motorists laugh softly as they wait in single file behind the pumps. This Tuesday, March 8, at the Hyper U in Mende, the prefecture of Lozère, the price of diesel has just exceeded 2 € per litre. Fifteen days earlier, it was still at €1.64.
However, the poster does not lie. It is still the cheapest station in this rural department, which mainly has pumps linked to independent garages or local shops at traditionally higher prices.
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At the end of the morning, Deborah, the cashier at the station, doesn’t have a minute to herself as the crowds are so high. “For the past two weeks, I have seen a lot more people pass. I even recognize people who come from Marvejols (the second city of the department, thirty minutes from Mende, editor’s note) to refuel, because it allows them to save some money »she says between two payments.
“A leap into the unknown”
Among the customers, the faces look gray. “We have been depriving ourselves with the Covid for two years and now this price increase has just been added, gets angry Sébastien, driving his white Suzuki. Until today, we have managed to deal with it, but if it continues, we will have to be careful about leisure or going on vacation. » At 49, he has two jobs, including that of a farmer, in two different places, and drives an average of one hundred kilometers a day. Last month, Sébastien saw his fuel budget increase by €60. “Even the price of fuel for agricultural equipment has doubled in one year”, he laments.
“Today, the priority is to fill the tank. As I was already struggling to make ends meet before, I had to make concessions on just about everything, confides Jean, a 69-year-old retiree. And it mightbecome even more complicated because we are taking a leap into the unknown with this conflict in Ukraine. We don’t know how high the prices will go. »
“Before, I was filling up at €40, today I’m at €70 for a small car like that, do you realize? », he insists, pointing to his red city car. This former employee of the aeronautics sector fears that his « petite pension » will no longer be able to ensure, in the coming months, his basic travels as ” go to the doctor “.
“No other choice but to suffer”
This feeling of panic, Deborah witnesses it every day. “People are sulking but above all I can see that they are panickedsays the cashier. Some even come to stock up at €150 for fear that prices will rise further. »
If the subject is so sensitive, it is because in Lozère the automobile is unavoidable. “We have no choice but to suffer. Here, there are no other solutions than the car to go to work. If there were more buses between my house and Mende, I would use them but there is nothing”notes Rémi¸, a retired farmer.
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You can only play on the sidelines. “Before, I took the car for a yes or a no, confesses Clarisse, home help in Mende. Now, I try to reduce my trips by making all my journeys of less than 3 kilometers on foot, especially for work, but as soon as I have to leave the city the car is essential. »
Faced with rising prices, fate sometimes mixes with protest. “It’s all the more infuriating to pay so much at the pump that we see that Total and others continue to make crazy profits”, loose Alain, before hitting the road again. For his part, Sébastien does not hide having “want to bring out the yellow vest”, in reference to the social movement against rising fuel prices that he had actively supported at the end of 2018. At the time, fuel prices were almost 50 cents lower than today.