Drivers queue for Adrian Portelli’s 99c fuel offer as billionaire hits back at taxpayer claims

A cut-price fuel promotion by billionaire Adrian Portelli has sparked huge queues and traffic delays in Adelaide , with drivers lining up for hundreds of metres to access the 99c/L offer.

Vehicles banked up along Daws Rd at Edwardstown on Saturday after Portelli’s newly opened LMCT+ fuel station slashed the price of unleaded fuel for a one-day promotion.

Traffic controllers managed the influx as cars queued out of the service station and along one of Adelaide’s busiest arterial roads.

Photos and videos from the scene showed a near-continuous line of vehicles stretching back towards Carramarra Ave as motorists scrambled to take advantage of the bargain fuel.

The chaos followed an announcement from Portelli on Friday that unleaded petrol would be sold for just 99 cents a litre.

“We are doing God’s work over in Adelaide, because all the neighbouring petrol stations in South Australia have dropped their prices and are trying to compete with LMCT+,” Portelli said on Friday.

“So I thought, seeing as we’re all trying to give back to the community, let’s go one step further.

“We want to give you guys some relief at the bowser over in South Australia.

Portelli confirmed on Saturday morning that he had organised and paid for the traffic controllers managing the site as crowds descended on the Edwardstown location.

“We will pump through this line. Bare (sic) with us. And yes I paid for the traffic controllers myself and it’s not a burden on taxpayers,” he wrote on Instagram.

The station is the first LMCT+ fuel outlet in South Australia, operating on a membership model that requires customers to pay an annual $99 fee to access fuel sold at wholesale prices.

Saturday’s promotion drew motorists from across Adelaide with the queue spilling onto Daws Rd and causing delays for passing traffic.