All - Harpenden is Dry!

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Mon 31 Jan 2011 13:19
All - Harpenden is Dry! - RaineMan

I went over to lunch at a friend who lives in Harpenden yesterday. Being a bit early I thought I would fill up with petrol only to find that the BP garage at the end of the High Street is closed for refurbishment. I thought I would then fill up at the Esso garage on the Lower Luton Road after lunch only to be told that it is in the middle of long term roadworks, which cause gridlock in the area, and is being refitted at the same time. Therefore a town of around 30,000 has no petrol for sale! This is a ridiculous situation! I finally got petrol on the outskirts of St. Albans having driven there with the petrol warning light on and my fingers crossed!

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Mon 31 Jan 2011 13:39
All - Harpenden is Dry! - jc2

A town with NO supermarkets??-I did not think it possible.

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Mon 31 Jan 2011 14:24
All - Harpenden is Dry! - FP

Who said anything about supermarkets? There's Waitrose and Sainsbury, but they're both in the town and have no fuel station. There's even a Somerfield in the Southdown area and that doesn't have a fuel station either.

I think the OP is right - officially there's Esso and BP and they're both unavailable right now.

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Mon 31 Jan 2011 15:15
All - Harpenden is Dry! - Armstrong Sid

There's Waitrose and Sainsbury, but they're both in the town and have no fuel station. There's even a Somerfield in the Southdown area and that doesn't have a fuel station either.

Totally the opposite to here in Nottingham.

It's strangel for a supermarket to not have a petrol station; and there are are very few stand-alone petrol stations which aren't attached to supermarkets.

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Mon 31 Jan 2011 14:32
All - Harpenden is Dry! - bathtub tom

You've obviously never visited Harpenden, they're far too posh to have supermarkets. I'm surprised they let Eric Morecambe live there. ;>)

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Mon 31 Jan 2011 15:35
All - Harpenden is Dry! - jc2

There's a Tesco Express in Harpenden.

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Mon 31 Jan 2011 18:26
All - Harpenden is Dry! - RaineMan

I do not understand why the discussion has moved onto supermarkets when I am highlighting the fact that a situation has developed where a fairly large town has no outlet selling petrol. Surely somebody must have seen this coming and been able to request that the work was done sequentially rather than in parallel!

BTW I have been in the Waitrose there. It is extremely pleasant - large enough to stock a good range yet small enough not to be an alternative to a country walk.

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Mon 31 Jan 2011 18:57
All - Harpenden is Dry! - Cymrogwyllt
Living in a rural area with fuel available respectively

5 miles away not 24 hour
10 miles away 24 hour in Summer
22 miles not 24 hour


I've learnt to fill up when down to half a tank. This allows for sufficient fuel for those 'emergencies' when fuel may well be quite a few miles away in the wrong direction.

We used to gave two garages in the village, only a penny dearer than the supermarkets. I supported them as far easier to fill up with no queue and on the odd occasion finding the wallet to be not in the pocket they knew where I lived so no big deal and no prob with popping home to get the wallet. When the blockades were on they protected locals by setting a limit that made it a waste of time for peeps to drive up from town to get fuel. Regulars were told 'take what you need'.

Lack of support has sadly caused them both to close. How long before it becomes normal for most to have to drive 30 miles or so to get fuel?
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Mon 31 Jan 2011 19:04
All - Harpenden is Dry! - jc2

The "Tesco Express" is a petrol station!!!(it sells food and drink as well).

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Mon 31 Jan 2011 20:37
All - Harpenden is Dry! - FP

Some might say the Tesco Express place is really in Batford, not Harpenden, but I suppose the one is part of the other - close enough, anyway.Thanks for pointing it out.

Edited by ChrisPeugeot on 31/01/2011 at 20:39

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