An Oswestry garage has blamed soaring costs for its decision to stop selling fuel.

As fuel prices continue to rise, and with a potential increase in duty to come, the Kar and Van Hire business on the Gobowen Road decided to pull out of the fuel market.

The decision is the end of an era for the locally-known Bridge Filling Station, which remained one of the few independently owned fuel outlets in Shropshire.

The garage was owned for decades by the Jones family but a couple of years ago the forecourt was taken over from TGN Jones and Son by Kar and Van Hire Ltd. It carried on selling fuel alongside its expanding hire business.

But this weekend regular customers received letters saying it was giving up the fuel business.

General manager, Mr James Roberts, said in the letter that the company could no longer compete in the fuel business.

He said: “The fuel industry is a very competitive market place.”

“As a small independent company we can no longer compete with the supermarkets, larger garages and constant increases in fuel prices.”

As cash-strapped drivers also look for savings in fuel prices, Mr Roberts said that the volume of sales through the forecourts no longer justified the company offering a fuel service.

It comes as hauliers today urged the Government to scrap a planned 2p-a-litre increase in fuel duty from April because of the damage it would cause their industry.