Two leading Top 50 Indies – Park Garage Group (PGG) and Platinum Retail – are switching sites to Valero, with the former planning to have around half of its 80-strong estate in the blue and yellow branding by the end of March.
Valero, the first new fuel brand to launch in the UK in over a decade, has quietly been disrupting the forecourt sector in the past two years, growing to 81 dealer sites, and with ambitions to hit 107 by the end of the year, and 134 by April 2026.
Not only did it win Forecourt Trader’s best oil company initiative in the industry leading awards earlier this month, Valero branded forecourt Budgens Huntley Services in Gloucestershire, went away with the regional Midlands and East of England over 4mlpa trophy, as well as the forecourt loo of the year title.
And the Valero brand has been attracting other big hitters in the market including Ascona – the first to take the brand in 2023 – SGN Retail and MPK Garages.
Park Garage Group, which since last year has been introducing the Valero brand, says that it currently has seven sites in the new colours. From November 10 to the end of March it will be converting over 30 more, with all but one, (a Shell site in Cardiff), currently Texaco, says its head of operations Ian Cawley.
“We have a very, very good relationship with Valero and we got a good deal,” says Cawley, who is a fan of the “nice bright and fresh branding”, which he says ties in with PGG’s other brands. “They’ve done a lot of good work to get bigger by getting a huge amount of the market to change,” he adds.
“With every site converting to Valero comes greater recognition and credibility for the brand among motorists,” says Cawley, who adds that the remainder of the Park Garage Group sites are with mainly Shell, and five with BP.
Last month Platinum Retail also took on the Valero brand at its Lanner Moor forecourt near Redruth in Cornwall, in a first for the 60-site business. It has another two sites in the pipeline to change at Milton Keynes and Bakewell later this year, and more likely to follow.
Platinum Retail operations manager Jamie Sejpal says: “We at Platinum Retail have heard great things about Valero and are excited to be trialling the brand at three of our sites. We hope to add more to the portfolio in the next year if everything goes well.”
Other fuel brands for Platinum Retail are BP, Texaco and Shell.
