Hundreds Line Up For Cheap Gas

BRIGHTON, Colo. -- A gas war brewing between two gas stations in Brighton had hundreds of cars lined up around the block Thursday, with eager drivers trying to fill up their tanks with cheap gasoline.

But are you burning more gas by waiting in that long line? Or is the wait worth it?

"Yes, it saved me probably $45," said one grinning woman.

Some drivers even brought several gallon containers to take every drop possible.

"We kind of liked having Kum & Go come down the road because we knew ... we knew there would be some type of gas war," said Steve Richmond.

When the Kum & Go on Bridge Street opened last Friday, the Western Convenience store -- on the same street -- were ready for the competition.

The manager at Western Convenience said she was told by the store's owner to match their new rival up the street and stay 3 cents per gallon below any price they posted.

The war began around 6 a.m. Wednesday. It started at $3.46 and has gone down, and down, and down. By Thursday afternoon, Western Convenience was selling regular unleaded gasoline for $2.94 a gallon.

Manager Joan Lehr isn't sure how many times she had to go back outside to change the numbers on the pricing sign but said, "It was a lot."

At $2.94, drivers were getting a discount of between 50 and 70 cents per gallon. Although it may not sound like a bargain to some, others don't seem to mind waiting in their cars for an hour, inching in line for their turn to fill up.

"Look at the traffic. All these people think they're getting a deal," said Chris Anderl, who was too late to get the deal. "This is awesome. My dad called me. My neighbor called me. It's awesome. You know, if they can do it now, why is it so high normally?"

One man brought his new $65,000 wake-boarding boat only to find out he was too late.

"It's rough," said Steve Hartle, speaking of the high gas prices. "It really limits the amount of weekends you can go, distance you're going to travel, and everything else."

Hartle speculated sky high fuel costs would cause Denver area lakes to become more crowded this summer as boaters choose not to drive to Nebraska or Utah.

Because of the gas war, Brighton police had to change schedules to ensure four officers could deal with sudden traffic problems. One sergeant told 7NEWS they were surprised by the response and had to use a typical day's staffing for the gas war traffic, instead of other calls.

By 6 p.m., when prices went back up, Western had won the war. But didn't they lose money?

"I'm sure we did. But, you know, our store will make up for that, hopefully. It's really being nice, being good to our community. And it helps everybody," Lehr said.

Lehr said it's possible the war could continue. If the Kum & Go starts dropping prices again, she thinks she'll be ordered to fire back.

The owner of Kum & Go did not allow employees to do any interviews and did not return calls to 7NEWS.