The managing director of a York petrol station which has been given permission to sell alcohol says it is the only way to compete with city supermarkets.

According to Graham Kennedy, who has been granted a liquor licence for the Boroughbridge Road Inner Space Station, high petrol taxes mean filling station profits have to come from shop sales instead.

When refurbishment is complete, it is believed the garage will be one of only 150 in the UK to have an off-licence.

Mr Kennedy, who also runs BP garages at Hull Road, York, and Poppleton, says at present 55 per cent of Boroughbridge Road earnings come from shop sales and just 45 per cent from fuel.

"The fuel margin has been squeezed completely," he said. "In the petrol industry there is very little left for profit so your shop is becoming the most profitable sector.

"Being a convenience store which sells petrol is the only way to make money nowadays unless you are selling huge volumes of it.

"For each £1 you spend on petrol, 86 pence goes straight to the government in excise duty and VAT."

He said in recent years York's petrol prices had had to level to compete with the city's supermarkets.

Mr Kennedy said customers had been asked to sign a petition in favour or against the idea of selling alcohol. Out of 144 signatures, he said only ten people objected.

He rejected the possibility that under-age drinkers or drink drivers would be a problem.

"Often teenage drinkers see a new shop as an easy target and they try it out, so initially we will introduce an over-21s policy," said Mr Kennedy.

York Police licensing officer Alan Sunderland said: "As far as the licence goes, Inner Space is quite different to many places because it has an advanced security system which means colour prints of an incident can be produced instantly in the shop from its CCTV cameras and handed straight to the police."

see COMMENT 'Licence to serve the customers'

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