Petrol station on Palma's Avenidas will have to close this week

At the time, the councillor for the city's internal affairs, Claudia Costa, said that there was "no going back" on the decision and no possibility of delaying it further through more appeals or judicial procedures.

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That didn't prove to be the case. The company (Febrer) which runs the two petrol stations applied for an injunction to allow it to continue operations. But the court has rejected the appeal and operations will have to cease immediately.

Even with the court's rejection, this may not be the end of the matter. Costa says that the town hall will have to confirm that the company has been notified of the court's decision. Once this is done, if the stations still remain operative, then the town hall could start fining the company - five per cent of the value of what should revert to being publicly owned spaces.

Apart from the fact that the concessions for the stations expired in 2008 and the municipal charge for these concessions appears not to have been paid since 1985, the town hall wants the spaces back in order to enable two "very important" projects - an underground car park in the case of Plaça Progrés and the tram in the case of the Avenidas.