Authorities have twice visited an abandoned petrol station following concerns being raised by locals over the state of the site’s underground tanks.
The filling station in Helmsdale, a village on the east coast of Scotland, was abandoned almost 20 years ago and has been gradually decaying ever since. The 4,600sq ft site was sold in February 2024 after having been listed for sale for ”offers over £37,500”, but no development has since taken place.
Residents recently contacted Highland Council asking them to investigate the former forecourt’s condition, and the authority sent a team out to visit the site at the beginning of August.
Highland Council’s environmental health inspectors found no issues that fell within their remit, and subsequently alerted Trading Standards.
That organisation spoke to the forecourt’s legal owners and sent officers out to the site at the beginning of September. They confirmed that all fuel had been uplifted in 2015 and there was ”no evidence of a petroleum explosive vapour on site”, but officers determined that the forecourt’s tanks have not been fully decommissioned.
The forecourt has since been designated an abandoned petrol site, Highland Council told Forecourt Trader, adding that Trading Standards officers have offered to “provide advice” to the owner “on permanently decommissioning as appropriate”.
Decommissioning a forecourt’s petrol tanks is a ‘prescribed material change’ under the Petroleum (Consolidation) Regulations 2014, requiring notification to be made to the petroleum enforcement authority. This forms part of councils’ trading standards or environmental health departments save in London, where the fire brigade holds responsibility.
The Northern Times, which first reported the story, says the filing station had been in the hands of the same family firm for almost 70 years, but ceased trading in 2008 due to ageing infrastructure and falling sales.
