Six petrol forecourt sites have been sold off by the neighbourhood retail giant McColl’s. With just seven forecourts among its 1,550 managed c-stores and newsagents, the fuel side of McColl’s operation was a tiny part of its overall business. Six of the sites sold Gulf fuel with the other supplied by Jet.

It has now sold four sites to Harvest Retail, one to Penny Petroleum and one to Roadside Welcome. Five of the deals have already completed with the sixth, one of the sites being taken by Harvest, due for completion on February 24. The retailer has not disclosed its plans for the seventh site.

McColl’s employs 20,000 staff and its stores serve five million customers a week. It claims to be the largest operator of Post Offices in the UK.