UK NEWS

FEWER PUMPS THAN IN MODEL T DAYS

Wednesday August 22,2007

By Graham Hiscott

Comment Speech Bubble Have your say(2)

BRITAIN has fewer filling stations now than in 1912 – with independent stations often struggling to survive.

Hundreds go out of business every year because of fierce competition and demand for land.

Another 300 petrol stations are expected to close this year, according to industry experts Catalist.

It will leave around 9,300 forecourts across the country, fewer than there were 95 years ago when the Ford Model T was all the rage.

The trend has given drivers, particularly in rural areas, increasing problems in locating a garage to fill up.

Since 2000, when Britain was hit by fuel price protests, the number of petrol stations has dropped from about 14,000 to fewer than 10,000. Many of those going to the wall are the independents.

A large number, especially in towns and cities, have closed to make way for housing. Developers have been snapping up sites for flats, with cash-strapped owners only too willing to sell up.

The relatively cheap cost of removing petrol tanks and other contamination, along with booming property prices, has increased the trend.

At the same time, forecourt operators have seen profit margins squeezed, even though drivers are paying through the nose . For every £1 spent at the pump the Treasury takes around 70p in VAT and fuel duty. A large chunk of the remaining 30 per cent goes to the oil companies that refine and distribute the petrol.

It can leave the retailer selling the fuel making as little as 2p from every £1. The low margins have led to oil companies selling more of their sites.

“It began in 1973 with the oil crisis,” said Ray Holloway, director of the Petrol Retailers Association. “But it really got worse in the Nineties when the supermarkets expanded their numbers of pumps and lowered prices. That meant an erosion of profits for the smaller retailers.”

James Haigh, business consultant at Catalist, part of Experian, said: “The reasons for the closures are many and varied but the ones that are going at the moment seem to be the smaller sites.”

Luke Bosdet from the AA said: “Although drivers in rural areas pay more for their petrol they have to understand the financial pressures on the retailer and value them for what they are.

“If they lose them, they will end up paying considerably more as a result of travelling further to find a garage.”

FEWER PUMPS THAN IN MODEL T DAYS

22.08.07, 9:46pm

It just goes to show what the oldies have been telling us for decades is actually true. The good old days were the best. With the march of profit, profit, profit at all costs we soon won't have any post offices, banks, petrol staions, etc left, just massive slum areas where they have thrown timber framed homes up quickly to maximise profits that will not stand the test of time like stone and brick built ones of yesteryear.

• Posted by: Vymnto • Report Comment

FEWER OF EVERYTHING

22.08.07, 1:29pm

We've got fewer Post Offices than in 1912 as well - fewer indigeneous peoples given the record number leaving - fewer fire fighting applieances - fewer, - NO - nearly the same number of RAF aircraft - fewer RN Ships - fewer jobs ----

----- thats the list started - any more???----

• Posted by: JAYDEE • Report Comment