Petrol Station DevelopmentHow Did It All Start?

By Jamie Thompson, Chairman of the APEA Technical Committee

It is perhaps an education for us all to look back at the development of the petrol station; what was there before, how they progressed and indeed what we may see in the future.

Perhaps there are some lessons to be learnt from our history as we appear to be in the early process of eventually doing away with petrol filling stations.

In London and indeed throughout the UK in the late 1800s we were used to having horses as the main method of transport. If you wanted to travel far you used stagecoaches across country and, in the metropolitan areas, we used horse drawn buses for the population and carts for other goods. There was, however, a major environmental problem which was especially prevalent in Metropolitan areas like London.

In fact, The Times announced in 1894 that unless something serious was done by the Authorities about it, London’s streets would be under 9ft of manure within 50 years!

An environmental problem for the authorities and the population and perhaps this sounds a little familiar today.

filling stations where they did not have to use cans to top up their car tank but they could use a petrol pump.

It was at that time when enough cars warranted it that petrol filling stations were developed; in London, records showed that many “one tank and pump” installations were constructed. Here, an early

The environmental saviour at that time was not the Government or local authorities but the introduction of the motor car; with its “clean burning” engine it became London’s answer to the “manure crisis” which was affecting the population.

The development of the petrol filling stations soon followed, from filling cars by can, to filling from brick stores situated in the old Mews sites where horses were still stabled, until eventually the first filling stations were designed to accommodate the eventual increase in availability and ownership of motor vehicles.

The 2-gallon cans (now museum pieces) were transported to cater for those who were filling their cars using cans of petrol, and carrying extra fuel in cans on their running board in case they ventured out where filling stations were not available.

Soon when petrol stations with hand operated pumps were first built the oil industry had to inform customers to call in to their pump and tank and an old pump - not sure the Petroleum Inspector would be keen on such an arrangement today!

Some fuel tanks in those early days had delivery by horse drawn tankers and London had many records showing this distribution and eventually road tankers, using first steam then petrol engines demonstrate the wide distribution necessary as filling stations expanded.

Many such one pump and tank installations were installed during that period but after the first world war the multi pump filling stations we recognise today were first built. A remarkable feat but records show that 100 petrol stations were constructed in the London area alone in a two-year period and the regulatory authority at that time were

This self-service operator had a pleasant responsible job in a weatherproof kiosk with the entire forecourt constantly in view. When the amber light glows and the buzzer sounds, she merely pushes a button to release the pump. She knows the filling has commenced when the red light glows, and when the motorist switches off, she takes out the ticket which is printed automatically and can even have the customers change waiting before he arrives at the kiosk. The ticket which she then gives to the motorist shows the pump number, volume (to 1/100th of a gallon) and the total price (to ½ d.) she then clears the pump to await her next customer. the Public Control Department of the London County Council. Their Petroleum Inspectors soon became familiar with the technical problems and solutions and the need to protect the public from fire and explosion.

Perhaps some of the designs were cautious in design with walls and gates surrounding the sites and numerous staff serving customers with uniforms and satchels to collect the money.

Many of those first larger multi pump sites in London were built by the Anglo-American Oil Company and although you would not recognise it today some of those sites still have a petrol station in the same position.

It should also be remembered that not only cars ran on petrol but buses and lorries also ran on that fuel and it was only much later that diesel fuel started to be used in greater quantities.

At the peak period around 50,000 fuel stations were licensed by the Petroleum Licensing Authorities, many being used by industry, bus companies, the utilities, local authorities, police, fire brigades etc and of course the public filling stations.

At a time in the early 1960s the industry was beginning to change with independent station owners first looking at self-service as a viable option to employing staff to serve customers. It was a practise that was happening in other parts of the world, but it was the independent retailers in the UK who started to persuade the authorities that this could be done safely.

Before the major oil companies changed to self-service it was operators such as Gerald Ronson of Heron and Alan Pond who had already began a successful operation which was to eventually change the way petrol stations operated in the UK.

There were of course those in authority who needed to be convinced that this would be a good and safe way to operate. A group of petroleum regulators, along with engineers from the Institute of Petroleum, accompanied a group visit to Hamburg in Germany where they were able not only to observe self-service sites but also some sites which were unattended and had note and coin acceptors, quite a revolution at the time!

Perhaps as innovations continued in the 1960s by the oil company marketers, Green Shield Stamps sales promotions etc the industry seemed confident that everything would go on for ever, but changes were coming - fuels changed, unleaded fuel and the word ‘Environment’ became the new objective.

It will be interesting to see if the development of Electric Cars which Governments seem keen to promote brings about the demise of liquid fuels. I believe there will be alternatives and the change is likely to be slow, similar perhaps like the change from horses to the motor car all those years ago.