Top 50 Indie Javid Iqbal has signed up five of his sites to the Essar brand.

The sites, which were previously with Esso and are located in Staffordshire and Derbyshire, opened under their new livery on March 30. The following day, a new Essar-branded station was commissioned in the West Midlands. The site, formerly branded Harvest Energy, is operated by group dealer Shailesh Parekh.

The openings bring the total number of Essar sites in the UK to 29. Three of the new sites are in Stoke-on-Trent. Essar Oil UK chief commercial officer SB Prasad said: "We are delighted with the addition of these six stations to the Essar fold. The openings underline the acceptance of Essar’s offering and continued healthy growth of our brand in the UK."