UK’s first people powered pumps
THE first community-run petrol stations in Britain are keeping pumps open and drivers on the road.
More than 5,000 forecourts have closed in the past 20 years, but groups are buying up sites, mainly in remote parts of the UK, and running them as nonprofit businesses.
One of the first is at Kielder, Northumberland, where villagers faced a 35-mile round trip for fuel.
Now their garage is open round the clock and charges 165p a litre for petrol and 171p for diesel, close to the UK average. A
similar scheme has opened in Wensleydale, north Yorks, where locals faced a 36-mile round trip for fuel.
Charity Locality says the garages could be a blueprint for schemes – but says the Government must give communities funding “so local people can invest in their own priorities”.