‘Highway 6’ end sit-in as petrol station’s new operators agree to staff’s demands

The six former staff members of the Highway Retail Ltd-run filling station in Ballyvolane have said they are "delighted" to know that they will spend Christmas at home, having ended their 15-day sit-in.

It was confirmed yesterday that Applegreen will take over the business, and that a transfer of undertakings is in place that will see the “Highway 6” kept on with the new company, starting from next Monday.

The group had started the sit-in to secure their entitlements after the previous business closed.

Danny Falvey, one of the six workers who slept in at the filling station since Highway Retail ceased trading there more than two weeks ago, said that all their terms of employment would be carried over to their jobs with Applegreen.

“It is absolutely brilliant news. We couldn’t have asked for more. Everything is being carried over, our terms of service, our wages, everything,” he said.

Mr Falvey said that at one point the six had resigned themselves to spending Christmas in the filling station in their bid to secure their redundancy entitlements from Highway Retail Ltd.

“We thought that we’d be here for Christmas and we were accepting that, Mr Falvey said.

“We were determined to get our entitlements and stay however long for that to happen,” he said.

The sit-in began earlier this month when the Texaco station closed suddenly after more than 30 years in business.

A spokesperson for Applegreen said the company was hopeful that the filling station would reopen under new management within 10 days, and that an area manager would meet with the six staff members shortly.