Exelby Services has secured a £4m finance package from HSBC to support development of its new filling station services and truck stop on the A1(M) at Leeming Bar, North Yorkshire.

Work has commenced on site and it is expected to be completed by September.

The £6.5m project will create a service area to meet the specialist refuelling and rest needs of heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) and their drivers, including 150 secure parking facilities and will lead to 15 new jobs.

The facility, which will include retail, a branded food outlet and Costa Coffee, will provide diesel, petrol, AdBlue and gas oil. It will also be available to the general motoring public.

Exelby Services submitted plans in 2010 to move from its current site at nearby Londonderry as the A1 upgrade has meant trucks currently have to detour along the A1(M) service road to reach it. The new service area is adjacent to both the A1 and the Leeming Bar Industrial Estate.

The company has switched its full business banking to HSBC’s North East Corporate team as part of the deal, which was led by senior corporate banking manager Chris Bennett.

Exelby Services was established in 1976 by current chief executive Michael Exelby’s father, Ron, and pioneered ‘fuel bunkering’ – a contract diesel refuelling system which allows haulage companies to make large savings on the cost of diesel.

It operates from two sites on the A19 South of Teesside, a site at junction 42 of the M6 at Carlisle and a site at J31 of the M62 near Castleford. The company handles more than 120 million litres of fuel each year and stores diesel for most of the major transport, distribution and fuel card companies at its sites.

Turnover at the company, which employs 60 people, has grown to £38m and it is expected that the new site will increase turnover by 30%.

Michael Exelby said: “We have been working for over 10 years on this project. It has been a long journey but we are delighted and excited to have finally broken soil on the site. The new facility is vital for this stretch of the A1(M) because more than five service areas and over 200 HGV parking spaces have been lost due to the motorway upgrade. Our new filling station and truckstop will provide top-of-the range facilities to HGV drivers, as well as other motorists, in a modern and secure environment.”

He added: “I’d like to thank HSBC for its support with this project. Chris and the team at the bank recognise the benefits this new development will bring to Exelby Services and have shown confidence in our company.”

Chris Bennett added: “Exelby Services is a business that has shown time and again that it can adapt and flourish. Michael’s father Ron first devised fuel bunkering after the construction of the Londonderry by-pass in the 1960s and they have shown that they can take a potential negative and turn it to their advantage. The passion they have shown in bringing this project to fruition is testament to the strength and ambition of the management team.”

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