Lines got long, tempers got short and deputies were called Tuesday when a Middle Georgia station sold gasoline for 99 cents a gallon.

“I done got cussed out trying to get in here and get some 99 cent gas,” said Richard Baker, a retired Vietnam War veteran, during the sale at Z Fuels near I-75 in Macon.

“People out here struggling are acting like a maniac now.”

The special price, which was for customers paying in cash, was to run from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m., according to the Telegraph of Macon. But when word got out, buyers and their vehicles came flocking.

“People were over here at like 1 p.m.,” owner Sohi Charania said.

Bibb County deputies were called in to direct traffic, in some cases telling people to drive by the station, circle back and attempt to enter again.

Charania said: “We ain’t doing this again. It was a mess.”

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