'The Garage' to close

A FORRES petrol station is set to close its doors for the last time at the end of the month, with five members of staff set to lose their jobs.

The Victoria Filling Station between Grant Park and Forres police station has finally succumbed to loss of business, forcing the owner to shut up shop.

"It’s just not profitable anymore and we can’t carry on loss-making," said owner, Iain Cox. "We hoped that the army moving into Kinloss would have buoyed it but there has been no increase in custom. The predatory pricing of the supermarkets hasn’t helped either."

It is believed that the original petrol station was opened by Forres family, the Duncans, in the sixties. The Duncans also owned garages at St Mary’s Court and on the High Street, where a father, two sons and a daughter worked.

Iain took the Victoria Filling Station over exactly 20 years ago but was unable to prevent it going into the red over the last year.

Affectionately known as "The Garage" by many in Forres, it has been a vital outpost and shop for generations of Forres eastenders. Having been promised a shop by the developers of Forbeshill that never materialised, the garage was the closest shop to the housing estates at that end of town.

Over the years hundreds of children have stopped at the garage for sweets on the way home from school, and it was important to motorists as the last chance to refuel before Elgin on the A96.

Ian is currently considering his options but will certainly be decommissioning the site according to petroleum officer regulations - the tanks under the forecourt will be filled with foam, concrete or taken out. He lost another business last year - the Tyock Filling Station in Elgin near Macrae and Dick - for the same reasons as The Victoria. Ian also fits and sells solar panels, some of which will remain on the site, and would like to keep the carwash there open.

"There may be something else on the horizon - I’ve yet to decide," he said. ""The Victoria Filling station is a business at the end of the day and at least I’m closing it on my terms, not someone elses."