The owner of a service station in Tirril, near Penrith, is gutted because the closure of a nearby oil depot means he may no longer be able to supply unleaded petrol.
Chambers Garage is a third-generation traditional garage, offering recovery, MOT and servicing as well as petrol and diesel.
Owner Ian Chambers says: “We’re old school; we don’t have a shop. We are a full-service site and we fill our customers vehicles up with fuel for them.”
Ian’s supply problem is down to the fact that the Dalston oil depot in Cumbria is closing down at the end of the year. Dalston has fuel delivered by train from the Grangemouth refinery. However, owner Petroineos plans to transform the Grangemouth site into a finished fuels import terminal and distribution hub to “safeguard Scotland’s supply of fuels for the future”.
A spokesman for Petroineos says: “Last month, we confirmed our intention to cease refinery operations at Grangemouth during the second quarter of 2025. We currently supply a range of fuels by rail to Dalston for onward distribution to customers in the north of England. We have been incurring financial losses on supplies into Dalston for some time now, along with the wider financial losses being incurred by the refinery. Our rail contract expires at the end of the year and we have informed customers at Dalston that we won’t be renewing that contract, giving them time to arrange alternative sources in a market that is well-served by other refineries and suppliers.”
However, Ian argues that he hasn’t been given enough time. The first he heard of the closure was when a delivery driver came onto the forecourt and said he’d heard Dalston was closing. “I didn’t really think anything of it, until a couple of days later, when I was officially told. It’s come completely out of the blue.”
Ian’s nearest competitor selling fuel is 2.5 miles away in Penrith but he says it’s not the distance that’s the issue. “We’re a small, family run business. People come to us for the service and also for the fact that they can still buy fuel on account.”
Ian says his supplier can store diesel so he will be able to stock that but not unleaded.
“I don’t think we can say we offer fuel and not offer petrol. And this won’t just affect us, it will affect other independents in the area too.
“I’m hoping someone might come in and take over Dalston but if that doesn’t happen I am not sure what I will do.”
Ian is worried that sourcing petrol from somewhere else will mean a rise in costs for him which he will have to pass on to his customers. He says he has always prided himself on selling fuel at a good price.
The only (tiny) upside to Ian’s problem so far is that fact that he’s become an international TV star. A customer was on holiday in France where he saw Ian on TV. Apparently French TV had picked up the Dalston closure story from the BBC.
