THE owner of a 127-year-old petrol station has confessed he can’t afford to fill up his own vehicle with diesel from the pumps.
Ross Molloy runs the RGM Brailsford Garage in Derbyshire, which has been operating since 1895.
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With fuel prices rocketing recently, Ross spoke about the difficulties faced by independent, local petrol stations.
While he acknowledged that some facilities may be marking up their prices to boost profits, he said the price hike was needed for the majority of outlets in order for them to break even.
Ross told the Derby Telegraph: “People blame the retailer, like me. They are saying you are putting up the price, you are cashing in.
“I’ve been making about 3p a litre profit on diesel and Esso down the road are selling it cheaper than I can buy it for.
“I usually sell for around 10p more than Esso. I have to put it up because it comes to me at a high price.
“I’ve almost been giving it away to be honest, and that’s why there aren’t many small garages left.”
The higher prices, Ross said, are due to the fact his supplier for diesel would prefer him to buy a larger quantity of fuel, more than the garage actually requires.
Ross said: “I can’t buy large amounts because modern fuels don’t keep. Diesel keeps for two or three months and then it is starting to go off in a tank.
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“The amount I sell, if I bought 5,000 litres, which is what they want me to buy, it would be in the tanks for months before I sold it. I can’t buy a large amount because it won’t keep, so I have to buy a smaller amount which is more expensive and I am hardly selling any of it.”
Earlier this week, Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced a fuel duty cut of 5p, which will last until next March.
Motoring organisations, such as the RAC, have said the cut won’t make much of a difference to motorists given the rising fuel prices.
Ross said that while anything was better than nothing, the move by the chancellor was just “a drop in the ocean” considering the amount of tax people pay on fuel.
He added, for him, the chancellor’s cut wouldn’t make a lot of difference.
Yesterday, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps urged drivers to boycott greedy petrol stations who refuse to pass on the fuel duty cut.
Asked what his message is to petrol stations refusing to cut their prices, Mr Shapps said they should “pass this on”.
Appealing to motorists to vote with their feet, he added: “Everyone has become very aware seeing £1.66, £1.70 for a litre of petrol.
“Help us with this…shop around so that they learn that if they don’t pass this on, then they are going to lose business.”
Over the Christmas period a vehicle drove into the diesel pumps at the Derbyshire garage and have yet to be repaired.
But even before that, Ross was unable to afford his own diesel.
With prices soaring even higher since then, Ross is unsure if it is worth fixing the pumps.
He said: “At the moment I am weighing up whether it is even worth getting them repaired for the amount I make out of it.
“It upsets me because this is the oldest petrol station in Derbyshire – 1895 is when this place started selling fuel and although I don’t make anything out of the fuel, I don’t want to be the last person to sell fuel at the oldest petrol station in Derbyshire.”
The news outlet says the petrol station is popular with locals and reviews have praised Ross’s “passion for his work”.
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