Closure Of Helmsdale Petrol Station

[angela5]

Almost 50 miles of the Highlands' major trunk route will be a fuel desert from next week as a "lifeline" village filling station closes.

The closure on Sunday of A.R. McLeod and Sons garage at Helmsdale in Sutherland means motorists will be unable to fill their cars between Brora and Spittal, south of Thurso on the A9.

Motorists heading towards Wick on the A99 will have to wait until Thrumster, just outside Wick, to refuel.

Village residents face a lengthy round-trip to keep their vehicles topped up.

Its owner claims the business is no longer viable after BP withdrew support several years ago and with the increasing number of supermarket forecourts.:confused

[Tugmistress]

To be honest every time i have gone past it has looked like it was closed anyway :confused and no it wasn't always in the stupid o'clock time of day ;)

[weeksider]

Very Sad to see this place shut, used it a few times after hours when off south @ Football matches/meetings.

[Tristan]

If I am not mistaken, we have fewer petrol stations now than in 1912.

[Stargazer]

It was not so long ago when driving north from Helmsale there were numerous petrol stations. One about 3 miles south of Dunbeath, Dunbeath Hotel, by the campsite north of Dunbeath, Latheron, Lybster, Thrumster(still there). Wick had numerous stations. Then there was a bit of a fuel desert untill Aukengill.

[COACHMAN]

There will be a few more closing on the road north from inverness within the next year[evil]

[Tony]

The unfortunate closure of the Helmsdale pumps but the owner partly blamed the closure on supermarket fuel pumps.:confused I hadn't realized Helmsdale had a supermarket with pumps near bye.

[Dadie]

People are finding it cheaper to fill up at tescos in wick or at morrisons at alness when they do their shopping than using the pumps in helmsdale

[karia]

Thanks dadie & Tony,

It helps to know when 'services ' are discontinued..especially for those of us traveling long distances and relying on memory.

Karia

[Rheghead]

The problem with Helmsdale petrol station was that it was more or less an old style (fuel/oil, car accessories etc) retail outlet, it hadn't diversified into selling other items so it died a death.

[JAWS]

It's always a good "get out" to blame others.

[theone]

The "NO SELF SERVICE" sign in the window always made me smile.

I regularly travel to Aberdeen and Glasgow and that is the only "petrol station" where I've ever seen it.

[Fran]

The petrol station at Helmsdale is not closing now as it has been taken opver by the comunity.

[percy toboggan]

The petrol station at Helmsdale is not closing now as it has been taken opver by the comunity.

Good luck to them!

[Jeemag_USA]

The petrol station at Helmsdale is not closing now as it has been taken opver by the comunity.

Good thing too, never mind the travellers, what about the people in helmsdale, if your running low on fuel and you have to go to Brora to fill up, cost a few pennies just to get there and back. Hope its a success for them.

[elamanya]

see when you think back a few years there were three places to get petrol in dunbeath, one in latheron , one in lybster , now its wick to helmsdale , and it was very near to being brora, yup good luck to them hope it works