Owning a service station is a licence to print money (Not). AN enduring myth in Africa is that owning a service station selling petrol is a licence to print money. Everyone needs petrol. Sells itself, dunnit? OK, petrol does sell itself, but it doesn't automatically mean the service station owner gets rich -- even if he is lucky enough to have super site with a throughput of millions of litres a month. Selling petrol is not like selling beans. It's a dangerous flammable product. Run a poor service station and water gets into your tanks. This irritates car owners who will no longer patronise your site. Running a service station well isn't easy. It's a 24/7 operation. Forget annual holidays. So, why this Blog posting? Residents Greyton in the Western Cape are irate because their local service station no longer sells fuel -- the owner is having financial problems. The poor dears have to drive to Caledon 40 kilometres away to fill up and -- oh dear again-- it is ruining the tourist trade. Wake up Joe Public. Access to petrol is not a right. Making and selling petrol is a business. And it is not an easy one. Garage owners usually make more money selling chips and Coke drinks than they do out of selling fuel. These days it also costs thousands to fill up underground tanks. Cash flow problems mean no stock, just like in any other business. Not that I am going soft on service station operators, especially the ones who " run" poorly- sited, poorly maintained ones in places where no y business reason exists for their continued existence. They are the ones who scream loudest for Government intervention to restore them to the profits they mistakenly believe are their right. Worse, they are behind the Government's determination to license everything in the oil industry.