“We drive to five gas stations every day – no chance!”

She had actually wanted to return to Switzerland with her family for a long time, but Blick reader Céline Ingold (30) from the canton of Berne is currently – involuntarily – on holiday in France. Since Sunday, the family has been stuck in the Parisian suburb of Saint-Georges, because the French gas stations no longer supply petrol.

For several days there have been signs at French petrol stations saying “no more petrol”. The metropolitan region of Paris, northern France and now also the west of the country are particularly hard hit. At some filling stations, the delivery volume for private drivers is limited to 30 litres. In front of the petrol pumps they hunt and fight for the last drop of fuel. Celine Ingold has also been looking for petrol for days, but so far with little success.

“We drive to gas stations every day, but they are all out of gas”

“Actually, we wanted to leave on Saturday,” says Ingold Blick. “Now we drive to about five gas stations every day – but no chance.” Sometimes the family even drove more than 30 kilometers, only to be disappointed again. “In the meantime, our tank filling is so low that we can no longer just drive from gas station to gas station,” she says. That’s why they are now trying to fill at least one jerry can with an electric car from the hosts of their accommodation. The direct sale of petrol in cans is prohibited in France.

Ingold is not the only Swiss woman who cannot leave France by car. Blick reader Baris Rimensberger also gets out of the water in Paris with his car. “Yesterday I drove around for two hours,” he told Blick on Wednesday. “But many gas stations were closed and I had to park my car somewhere. Today I am looking for petrol again.”

People are angry and desperate

Millions of French people feel the same way as Celine Ingold and Baris Rimensberger. To save fuel, they carpool and take out their pocket calculator: “I have a range of 200 kilometers in my tank, my colleague’s tank is three-quarters full. We are safe for a week and a half. But after that?”, nurse assistant John Bertamini tells “La Montagne”.

Ingold describes the country as divided into two camps: on the one hand, there are people who accept the situation. On the other hand, there are those who “have no understanding at all and slowly but surely develop frustration and anger,” she describes. “Many get thin skinned and react to every inch you could drive past them on the house straight to the gas station.”

The French government is running out of patience

The reason for the persistent bottlenecks at the gas stations are strikes by employees in the large refineries in France. Since the end of September, the two large factories of the American oil company Exxon-Mobil and half of the factories of the energy company Totalenergies (formerly Total) have been shut down. The refineries are a stronghold of the CGT union, which is classified as radical. Given Totalenergies’ recent billion-dollar profits, she is demanding a pay rise. The company refuses to pay them.

The persistent situation at the petrol pumps is also gnawing at the patience of the French government. “The situation for our compatriots is difficult and unreasonable in some parts of the country,” said Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne (61). On Tuesday, the head of government announced that employees will be obliged to carry out emergency services. This is how she wants to break the blockade.

In any case, Céline Ingold hopes that the promises made by politicians will be kept and that there will be an improvement by the end of the week. “On Monday our son has to go back to school and the dog is also waiting for us,” says the Bern resident. “Until then, we’ll keep looking for fuel. If we don’t find anything, we’ll just have to fly.”

She would leave her car at the guesthouse in France and pick it up later when the fuel was available again. But now the good news: your accommodation has arranged two jerry cans full of petrol. “We can go home soon!” says Ingold happily.