Tales of the Urban Explorer: The Gas Station

An abandoned 'Gas Station', or as we say here 'Petrol Station' is usually less than exciting. My stint in the USA has worn holes in me and my diction at times.

For this one... parking was the biggest issue. When your target is on a dual carriageway, you can't simply pull up, park, and visit. Think of it as a mini-freeway, but with only two lanes in each direction.

After finding a spot, a short walk took us to a low wall, easily leapt over, and on the wrong side of this leaning 'herras' fencing. Finding a break was not too difficult and we found ourselves in the grounds of the exciting 'The Gas Station'.

Having done a little research, there is concrete evidence 'The Gas Station' was in a similar state in 2010. The abandonment is nothing new, and yet inside, some finds were remarkably fresh given the period of being empty is closing in on 20 years.

This big, squarish-looking hole was likely a car wash; in this section, little was left. It was all about the shop and kiosk where the punters used to pay for their fuel.

Getting in, as you can see, was hardly causing us nightmares. The inside had been thoroughly vandalised, with glass abundant underfoot, empty ice cream fridges and a suspect looking 'silver snake' hanging down from the ceiling.

'Any 2 for £1.20' says the sign fixed to what was a fridge. What can you get two of for that price now? Inflation has seriously increased in the United Kingdom since 2010.

Here's a example of something 'fresh' considering how long 'The Gas Station' has been empty. The O2 leaflets are of no interest to the vandals, cannabis farm grow investors, or anyone else, so they remain untouched.

So it was a 'Total' garage once. I did wonder about applying for 'Store Manager', and handing the application form to a different 'Total' garage. Would that work?

The note made me chuckle, so hastily scribbled down and yet for the attention of all staff. Non-payers are a big problem for a 'trusting' country such as the UK, where you can fill up and pay at the kiosk later. Most of us do, but some do a runner.

This one damaged a pump and did a runner. What does that mean exactly? Smashed into the pump, wrecking it?

The plate number caught my attention, as 'R' registered vehicles were produced in 1997-1998. This yellow Ford Transit van's MOT expired in 2009 with 75,000 miles on the clock and a LOT of fail points. I think that might have been the end of its life.

...' in other words, the vehicle is fucked and too expensive to repair. It would have been sold to a scrapper the next day'...

The cigarette stand, very empty as you could guess, but in lovely condition. I note a pack of 20 fags (not that type of fag) costs around £4.

According to AI (it has its uses), this would present a date of around 2003-2004. So that is a more genuine abandonment date.

A quality control disregarded sheet dated November 2003 confirms this. Just poke around a little, and you can find a lot of information.

As for the rest of it, it looked like a horny bull had been rampaging through the middle of it, in pursuit of a herd of cow honeys.

It's hardly state-of-the-art, and the reason why nobody has nicked it. Even the local thieves have an embedded quality control 'steal' level.

Do you want to win a personal CD player? It's marginally better than a personal tape player, I guess. 'Every litre gets you closer to £5'. In 2003, digital reward accounts had not made it yet. Forget the IOS / Android application; it was all done on paper.

Looking back at 'The Gas Station', I am surprised at what was left behind. This was no shell explore, and I have a clearer picture now of closure and a little drama.

What the 'Water' sign signifies is a little lost on me. Not personal showers, methinks.

In this grisly-looking room, there has been water. Damp, dank and stinky, I was not going to touch that stuff and look deeper into what the significance of '8' and '2' was.

When starting to write, 'The Gas Station' I was thinking, is this worth bothering with? Many of my more recent explores are hardly your lost in time 'Capsules', but each tells a story if you take some time to digest what you have snapped.

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