Petrol stations have been with us for 100 years. They have become etched
on countless rural and industrial landscapes, sometimes blending in with
their surroundings, and often becoming a linchpin of the communities
they serve. Men, or women, often clad in slightly oily overalls, would
fill up your car's tank, wipe the windscreen, and even check the oil for
you. Football coins, Green Shield stamps, soup bowls, or wine glasses
might be handed over to keep your custom--all in the days when a single
£1 note was enough to buy 100 miles worth of happy motoring. This vivid,
illustrated history takes the reader on a journey from collecting a
two-gallon can at the local ironmonger's to filling up on the forecourt,
and on to the possibility of not using petrol at all.