Getting the Liberty service station on Ballina Road (near Wyrallah Road) ready to open was a mammoth task for owner operator Darren Ackerley – especially after the flood blew out the back wall and destroyed the cool room.

“It looked like a bomb hit it,” Darren said.

Before and after shots of the wall.

Opening the CBD servo is good news for Lismore motorists who have been travelling to Goonellabah and beyond in the hopes of filling up their tanks to keep mobile.

Darren said while the servo is now open, the sign board advertising prices has not been replaced yet – but he hopes that a new one will be installed tomorrow.

Darren told The Lismore App that four new (hard to get) bowsers have been installed and the petrol tanks are full of fuel.

“We didn’t get out bowsers off in time because the bowser blokes were trapped up north by the flood water,” he said.

Fuel

Darren said people shouldn’t worry about the fuel, because it has been tested and is not contaminated with water.

“We seal all our tanks before the flood,” Darren said. “When we seal them, they need to be full otherwise they could explode like the Caltex did in the 2017 flood.

“When we tested the fuel in the tanks after this flood, they were all clean and clear.”

Helpers thanked

This servo is the first cab off the rank to open thanks to a huge team of people who worked with Darren – friends, family, employees and the staff at North Coast Petroleum.

Darren was also lucky enough to get builders in quickly to replace the servo wall and glass in the windows.

“A big thank you to my staff member Leanne and her neighbours in South Lismore who packed everything in special crates I bought after the last flood,” Darren said.

“Then they went back to South Lismore and lost their own homes.

“I’d also like to thank Josh and Duncan who loaded and unpacked all the stock at their depot for us – Angus and all the others who helped out.”

Good Samaratin

Darren said when he started the process of rebuilding the servo, he didn’t know many of the people who were in the shop helping out to pack shelves again.

“One guy come up from Sydney, who used to live here,” Darren said.

“He told us he had raised money and if anyone came into the servo, and said they had lost everything, he paid for their fuel

“One woman was crying and he paid $100 for her fuel - and he wants to remain anonymous.

Community support

“We’ll try to give back to our community now – without them, we would be nothing.

“I’ll hold a party for everyone to thanks them in the near future.

“Everybody has lost something.”