PETROL stations in Scotland are closing at up to three times the rate of the rest of Britain, amid warnings Scots will be left particularly vulnerable in the event of a fuel crisis.
Figures provided by the Petrol Retailers Association (PRA) show 97 petrol forecourts have shut down north of the Border between 2010 and 2012, representing a 14% decline in Scotland and the fastest rate of closures anywhere in Britain.
The rate of closures was 6% in East Anglia and Yorkshire/Humberside over the same three-year period, and 4% in the north of England.
The trend has been blamed on the growth of supermarkets able to attract motorists with offers of petrol discount schemes, with rural filling stations worst affected.
Petrol sales have also plummeted in the past five years. In 2007, forecourts sold 22.87 billion litres of petrol but this fell to 17.42 billion litres by 2012.
The new figures show 83 of the 97 forecourts to close belonged to dealers running franchises on behalf of firms such as BP and Shell, while 11 were independent retailers.
Only three of the closures were forecourts based outside large supermarkets.
Brian Madderson, chairman of the PRA, which represents petrol retailers and forecourt operators, said it was raising concerns with the Government about the potential dangers of an increasingly concentrated fuel supply.
He said: "One of the things we've been talking to the Department of Energy about is energy resilience – which is Government speak for 'how well can the country cope in times of a fuel crisis?'
"What we've said to them is that the fewer forecourts we have, the less stock you have spread around the country for people to visit.
"So as the network of filling stations shrinks, because of hypermarkets and aggressive pricing, so we've become less and less able to resist any kind of fuel crisis."
The PRA estimates that every supermarket filling station that opens kills off five independent or franchised forecourts, without necessarily creating any new jobs. Whereas an average independent or franchised operation employs about eight members of staff, supermarkets are increasingly moving towards unmanned stations with card-only pumps.
The PRA has also complained to the Office for Fair Trading that supermarkets are offsetting fuel discounting by increasing the price of groceries in store.
Mr Madderson said: "Supermarkets are sometimes using fuel as a loss leader to attract people to buy at the store, but what is happening is that supermarkets are raising prices in store in order to cross-subsidise fuel discounting. In Australia, the competition commission is so concerned about the impact supermarkets over there are having on independents that they are looking to possibly ban the use of discount vouchers by supermarkets."
Elaine Murray, shadow transport minister and MSP for Dumfriesshire, said: "Independent petrol stations have been closing at an increasing rate, leaving many villages now with no access to a local petrol station. Independent retailers have been unable to compete with supermarkets on price, and as fuel prices have risen the pressure on them has increased to the extent that these businesses are no longer viable."
However, Richard Dodd, spokesman for the British Retail Consortium, which represents supermarkets including the "Big Four" of Tesco, Sainsbury's, Morrisons and Asda, denied prices were manipulated.
He said: "At a time like this when household budgets are being squeezed by rising costs and falling incomes, supermarkets surely deserve praise for giving the best possible value they can on all their products."
A spokesman for the Department of Energy said: "Although it is clear there have been changes to the size and shape of the retail market for road fuels in the past 40 years, this has not had an impact on the vast majority of motorists.
"Access to road fuel is clearly an important issue and we are working with industry to ensure resilience, particularly in rural areas."
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