Small garage 'highly sensitive' to fuel cost changes

An independent petrol station says it is "highly sensitive" to fluctuations in fuel prices, as costs continue to rise amid the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

Lumbards of Ashbourne in Derbyshire has a limited forecourt and small underground storage tanks, meaning it can only hold a "relatively small amount of fuel" so it relies on several tanker deliveries each week.

Manager Kerry McNair said she had faced serious uncertainty since the US-Israel war with Iran started.

"We're charged slightly more because we're at the bottom of a hill so it's a little bit more inconvenient for the lorries to get down to us and we have a small forecourt which makes it more difficult to unload," she said.

"On top of that we have small tanks because of the size of the forecourt and our turnover is relatively high because we're convenient for people."

The station's owner, Martin Brass, described the current situation as "very volatile".

He said initially prices rose so quickly "even the fuel company didn't know how much it was going to be".

"We had to order a tanker load, not knowing how much it was going to cost," he said.

Internationally, oil prices have risen sharply since 28 February, when the US and Israel first launched air strikes on Iran.

In this time, Brent Crude, which is the benchmark for oil prices, has risen from $73 (£54.45) a barrel to about $102 (£76.27) as of Tuesday.

A $10 (£7.46) increase in the price of an oil barrel causes an increase of roughly seven pence per litre at the pump.

And while big fuel retailers like supermarket chains benefit from economies of scale, small independent retailers often face larger price fluctuations.

McNair said: "They [my supplier] were trying to determine their price based on market fluctuation."

"So they said you can have X litres but we can't confirm how much that would be that would be, and we had to wait until the next day before they would actually firm up a price."

But despite rising prices, Kerry McNair is keen to reassure customers that garages like hers are not profiteering.

"Absolutely not - in order for us to remain even slightly competitive we've had to look at trying to reduce margins," she said.

"We want to remain customer and community focused and are trying to maintain our reputation.

"We fill up for our customers and we're a bit more of an old-fashioned outfit but what we can't deliver in competitive pricing at the moment we can certainly make up for in customer focus".

And in a post on its Facebook page, the garage said staff had faced some "very difficult behaviour" from customers which it described as "unjustified and not helpful for anyone".

Additional reporting by Rachel Royce

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