Fourteen Barney's stations either ran out [image-nocss] of gasoline or were close to running out Monday as the owners tried to work through unspecified financial problems. But most had gasoline on Tuesday, the report said. The problems first came to light in early September when many Barney's stations in metropolitan Toledo stopped accepting credit-card payments, said the report. (Click here for previous CSP Daily News coverage.)
Signs posted on gasoline dispensers blamed the problem on computer glitches, according to the report. But Roy Clark, a vice president of Barney's owner J-F Enterprises Inc., Perrysburg, Ohio, told the Blade last week that the problems resulted from a financial dispute, but he declined to provide details other than to say the firm's cash flow has been disrupted by a problem obtaining reimbursement for credit-card transactions.
A BP spokesperson in Chicago said the firm was attempting to resolve the dispute. "We're working very hard with all of the parties involved to get the stations resupplied and accepting all forms of payment," Scott Dean told the paper.
Part of the fix apparently involves switching fuel wholesalers, the report added. The owners have previously identified J-F Enterprises as a subsidiary of Dearborn, Mich.-based Armada Oil & Gas Co., the current wholesaler.
A woman who answered the phone at Armada Oil on Monday told the Blade that she was unaware of problems with stations in Toledo and that officials were unavailable for comment.
J-F Enterprises and Circle K parent Alimentation Couche-Tard, Laval, Quebec, could not be reached for comment, said the report.
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