emb123
28-May-08, 16:29
From The Times
May 23, 2008
Tourists stay away from the Highlands as diesel prices soar to £6 a gallon
Quiet Bank Holiday is blamed on the cost of fuel as rural petrol stations are among the most expensive
David Lister, Scotland Correspondent
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/article3994727.ece
The future looks bleak from behind the counter at the Sutherland Sporting Company in Lairg.
Amid the midge nets, the deerstalker hats and the tweed jackets in his shop, Alasdair Ross has a grim message for the tourism industry in rural Britain.
“There's no question, this year will be the worst we've ever had and it's because of the fuel,” he says. “The tourists have just disappeared north of Inverness.”
This weekend - the second Bank Holiday in May - is meant to be the time of year when the tourist industry in rural parts of Britain licks its lips at the start of what it hopes is going to be a long and profitable summer season.
But as fuel prices continue their relentless rise, the signs are not good. “People just haven't got the money in their pockets any more, and for many the fuel is the final straw,” says Mr Ross, 62.
“We're lucky because our customers are mainly anglers and stalkers, but we need the tourists too.”
In Lairg, just over an hour from Inverness by car and in one of the less-visited parts of the Highlands, there are precious few tourists around and the restaurants and souvenir shops are all but deserted.
At Dunrobin Castle, near Brora, the biggest tourist attraction in the region, the car park is barely half full.
According to figures obtained by The Times, Britain's spiralling fuel prices are affecting Lairg and the surrounding area more than any other part of Britain.
In an area where motorists have little or no choice, this far-flung region has become the most expensive part of the country in which to fill up your car, surpassing overall even the Western Isles and Shetland.
Although a petrol station in London - the Chelsea Cloisters - invariably tops the list of Britain's 9,000-plus filling stations as the most expensive, this is little more than an anomaly. According to the figures, three in the Lairg area are among the Top 20 most expensive and a fourth is not far behind.
There are just a handful of petrol stations within a 20-mile radius of Lairg, but virtually all are now selling diesel at above 131.9p a litre - or £6 a gallon. Many have seen prices rise by as much as 30 per cent already this year.
“It's killing us,” says Alistair Nicolson, 58, at the Pittentrail Garage in Rogart, where the price of diesel is currently 132.9p a litre - and is likely to rise when a new delivery arrives in the next few days. He says that he will have no option but to stop doing business unless prices start to come down.
“People are complaining bitterly, but in this part of the world you are stuck without a car. It's hitting the visitors as well,” he says. Some 366 petrol stations, many in rural parts of Scotland and Wales, have already broken through the £6 a gallon (131.9p a litre) barrier for diesel. Of these, some 34 are in the far-flung Scottish counties of Caithness, Sutherland, Invernesshire and Ross-shire - or 53 per cent of all filling stations in the region.
A spokeswoman for petrolprices.com, the fuel price comparison website, said yesterday: “Stations in rural areas, or those with very little competition, are generally more expensive - they know that drivers can't go elsewhere and so can get away with charging a premium. Lairg appears to be one of those areas, but this pattern is repeated to a lesser extent across the country.”
As politicians called for concessions on fuel duty for those in remote areas, Hugh Macquarry, owner of the Central Filling Station at Kyle of Lochalsh, in the western Highlands, where diesel was selling at 133.9p a litre, said that prices had gone up 10p in the last month alone.
“The Government has to do something,” he said. “There has to be a rural rebate for remote areas like here.”
Have Your say:
At a time when prices oil prices are going through the roof Mr Brown continues to recover a windfall in additional VAT.
Together with the proposed 2p a litre and other increased car taxes this government will tax us to a standstill.
The economy needs help but MP's jobs are secure!
wullie, Luss, Scotland
i,ve just filled up in Hirwaun south wales and paid £1.39.9 a litre.Is this the most expensive fuel in Britain?
Julian Devereux, merthyr tydfil, uk
You can spend good holidays in USA... Gasoline is only 4,5 $ per gallon for now. against 12 $ in UK ... Welcome to Florida !
Jutharat, Bangkok, Thailand
May 23, 2008
Tourists stay away from the Highlands as diesel prices soar to £6 a gallon
Quiet Bank Holiday is blamed on the cost of fuel as rural petrol stations are among the most expensive
David Lister, Scotland Correspondent
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/article3994727.ece
The future looks bleak from behind the counter at the Sutherland Sporting Company in Lairg.
Amid the midge nets, the deerstalker hats and the tweed jackets in his shop, Alasdair Ross has a grim message for the tourism industry in rural Britain.
“There's no question, this year will be the worst we've ever had and it's because of the fuel,” he says. “The tourists have just disappeared north of Inverness.”
This weekend - the second Bank Holiday in May - is meant to be the time of year when the tourist industry in rural parts of Britain licks its lips at the start of what it hopes is going to be a long and profitable summer season.
But as fuel prices continue their relentless rise, the signs are not good. “People just haven't got the money in their pockets any more, and for many the fuel is the final straw,” says Mr Ross, 62.
“We're lucky because our customers are mainly anglers and stalkers, but we need the tourists too.”
In Lairg, just over an hour from Inverness by car and in one of the less-visited parts of the Highlands, there are precious few tourists around and the restaurants and souvenir shops are all but deserted.
At Dunrobin Castle, near Brora, the biggest tourist attraction in the region, the car park is barely half full.
According to figures obtained by The Times, Britain's spiralling fuel prices are affecting Lairg and the surrounding area more than any other part of Britain.
In an area where motorists have little or no choice, this far-flung region has become the most expensive part of the country in which to fill up your car, surpassing overall even the Western Isles and Shetland.
Although a petrol station in London - the Chelsea Cloisters - invariably tops the list of Britain's 9,000-plus filling stations as the most expensive, this is little more than an anomaly. According to the figures, three in the Lairg area are among the Top 20 most expensive and a fourth is not far behind.
There are just a handful of petrol stations within a 20-mile radius of Lairg, but virtually all are now selling diesel at above 131.9p a litre - or £6 a gallon. Many have seen prices rise by as much as 30 per cent already this year.
“It's killing us,” says Alistair Nicolson, 58, at the Pittentrail Garage in Rogart, where the price of diesel is currently 132.9p a litre - and is likely to rise when a new delivery arrives in the next few days. He says that he will have no option but to stop doing business unless prices start to come down.
“People are complaining bitterly, but in this part of the world you are stuck without a car. It's hitting the visitors as well,” he says. Some 366 petrol stations, many in rural parts of Scotland and Wales, have already broken through the £6 a gallon (131.9p a litre) barrier for diesel. Of these, some 34 are in the far-flung Scottish counties of Caithness, Sutherland, Invernesshire and Ross-shire - or 53 per cent of all filling stations in the region.
A spokeswoman for petrolprices.com, the fuel price comparison website, said yesterday: “Stations in rural areas, or those with very little competition, are generally more expensive - they know that drivers can't go elsewhere and so can get away with charging a premium. Lairg appears to be one of those areas, but this pattern is repeated to a lesser extent across the country.”
As politicians called for concessions on fuel duty for those in remote areas, Hugh Macquarry, owner of the Central Filling Station at Kyle of Lochalsh, in the western Highlands, where diesel was selling at 133.9p a litre, said that prices had gone up 10p in the last month alone.
“The Government has to do something,” he said. “There has to be a rural rebate for remote areas like here.”
Have Your say:
At a time when prices oil prices are going through the roof Mr Brown continues to recover a windfall in additional VAT.
Together with the proposed 2p a litre and other increased car taxes this government will tax us to a standstill.
The economy needs help but MP's jobs are secure!
wullie, Luss, Scotland
i,ve just filled up in Hirwaun south wales and paid £1.39.9 a litre.Is this the most expensive fuel in Britain?
Julian Devereux, merthyr tydfil, uk
You can spend good holidays in USA... Gasoline is only 4,5 $ per gallon for now. against 12 $ in UK ... Welcome to Florida !
Jutharat, Bangkok, Thailand