Ed Trudeau was thwarted when he tried to fill up an 8,500-gallon tanker truck with cheaper fuel. Trudeau, a 35-year veteran of the gas station business, said two competing stations owned by multinational gas corporations weren't playing by the rules. Jon Johnson, front, pumped gas into an 8,500 gallon tanker as Ed Trudeau, right, handed another pump to James Rathmann at a Citgo gas station Tuesday in Burlington. Trudeau, a longtime gas station owner, filled the tank with 342 gallons of gas before Citgo employees called the police. I can buy gas from him cheaper than from my oil suppliers.
Stations can charge less to match competitors.
The driver, Jim Rathmann, and Jon Johnson scrambled on top of the tanker while Trudeau turned on the gas. After about five minutes, clerks said he had to stop, but Trudeau continued pumping until the workers shut off the gas. When Burlington police arrived, they told Trudeau he had to leave, though he wasn't doing anything illegal. This is a private business. The markup law, which dates to the 1930s, was intended to prevent multinational oil companies' stations from slashing prices below cost to drive smaller competitors out of business.