§ Dr. CableTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many petrol retailers(a) are in operation and (b) have been closed and sealed since 1990, broken down by (i) oil company sites, (ii) main retailer sites, (iii) supermarket sites, (iv) smaller retailer sites and (v) other unbranded sites; and if she will make a statement. [72506]
§ Mr. Wilson[holding answer 24 July 2002]: There were 12,201 petrol retailers operating at the end of last year (2001) compared with 19,465 sites in 1990.
Total sites closed since 1990 is 7,264, of which 5,085 are oil company sites, while 1,452 are from the main retailers.
No supermarket sites have closed, as they have been steadily increasing in numbers. We do not have a breakdown between categories smaller retailer and unbranded sites, however the total for this category is 727.
The data used were from the Institute of petroleum (IP) annual "UK Retail Marketing Survey" (last published in March of this year).