Customers queued for the opening of a £1.25m forecourt redevelopment in Gloucestershire last month. Millwood Motor Company’s refurbished site in Cam includes a 150sq m Spar store, Shell petrol and a car wash.

"It was incredible," said Millwood’s director Paul Griffith. "We hadn’t even turned on the pole sign lights and people were driving in for petrol." The forecourt is one of only two in the area of Cam and Dursley; it has been part of the community for 43 years.

The site was officially opened by local MP David Drew, who said the opening was a "terrific business success story in difficult times".