Applegreen parent claims agent breached fuel agreement

The parent company of 141 Applegreen Service Stations has claimed one of its agents breached a five-year agreement to only sell its fuel products.

Petrogas Group Ltd directly operates around 100 of the stations while some 40 others are run by independent dealers under an agreement whereby they receive four cents commission on each litre of fuel sold, the High Court heard.

One of those is Apple Red Service Station Ltd, McKee Road, Finglas, Dublin, which entered into an agreement with Petrogas in April 2015 on the four cent-per litre commission basis.

Niamh Hyland SC, for Petrogas, told the court everything went well for about a year when a further compromise agreement was reached between her client and Apple Red for payment of the commission on an upfront basis, rather than throughout the year.

Three weeks later, Apple Red said it could no longer continue the agreement after a local rival Tesco service station started selling fuel for one or two cent cheaper, counsel said.

Petrogas believed this was just a price blip over a three week period when, for most of the year, Applegreen was offering fuel at a lower price, she said.

When Petrogas sought an injunction preventing Apple Red breaching the agreement, Apple Red began claiming breach of competition law alleging, by setting the price of fuel itself, Petrogas was being anti-competitive. That claim was denied by Petrogas.

Apple Red denies it has breached the agreement or that Petrogas has suffered loss. It has also counter-claimed.

It has been argeed Apple Red will continue to abide by the terms of the agreement until the court proceedings, which began on Wednesday, are decided.

The case continues before Ms Justice Miriam O’Regan.