Latoya Grindley, Features Writer

The stand for an air pump, now missing, at a St Andrew service station last week. - Norman Grindley/Deputy Chief Photographer

So, you're driving along and suddenly, you realise that your tyres need air. You decide to make a quick stop at a service (gas) station to get your wheels pumped. But, what you thought would have been a simple task, may prove more difficult than you expected, as functioning air pumps are becoming a scarce commodity at service stations in Kingston and St Catherine.

Going downhill

One driver, Anthony Hill, said he has had the experience of driving around with an almost flat tyre because he had difficulties finding an air pump. "As I was leaving my workplace one evening, I realised I had an almost flat tyre and decided to stop at the closest gas station," Hill said. "Well, that plan pretty much failed and following that, it went downhill. With the little air in my tyre, I literally stopped at five other gas stations and none had an air pump or had one that was working."

Checks made at 10 service stations in the Corporate Area recently revealed that four had functioning air pumps, while the rest had broken ones. Stops at six service stations along Marcus Garvey Drive in Kingston and in Portmore, St Catherine, revealed that four had broken air pumps, one had no pump at all and one had an air pump that was damaged, but still working.

A supervisor at Esso Liguanea said the air pump at that station has been broken for about two months. She said the scale on the pump was knocked down by a customer and, since then, the company has been facing difficulties sourcing the part needed to repair it. Another supervisor at a Total service station, Tanesha Shaw, said her outlet was also being hampered by the delay in getting a part needed for the broken air pump.

"The pump has been down for nearly two months now and it's because we are waiting for a motor that we need. Our motor is not working now, so we have to have it shipped to us."

Precautionary measures

Shaw, however, noted that she has heard of cases where other stations have lost air hoses to thieves. A junior supervisor at a Petcom service station in Portmore reiterated this. He said his station has had its hoses stolen by thieves and has since been taking precautionary measures.

"We take the hoses off the pumps at nights because we don't want people to come by and steal them."

latoya.grindley@gleanerjm.com