Asda gears for 24-hour petrol station at town store

Asda in Coronation Street, South Shields, hopes to add a petrol station to its store.

Asda in Coronation Street, has applied to South Tyneside Council for permission to build a four-pump, eight position filling station in its car park.

Under the proposals 31 parking spaces would be lost to make way for the station, which would be open 24-hours a day to customers using pay-at-the-pump systems, while a kiosk would also accept cash and cards during the same opening hours of the store, which is from 6am on Monday to 10pm on Saturday and 10am to 4pm on Sundays.

Asda in South Shields has submitted plans for a petrol station.

Designs show the company would like to build the station in the area where its grocery collection station is currently sited, beyond the zebra crossing.

As part of the transportation statement submitted to planners, the company says it is looking to replicate stations already up and running across the company - Boldon’s store already operates a filling station with pay-at-the-pump only machines.

Each pump will have extendable hoses, allowing customers to use any pump regardless of the position of their petrol cap and reducing the likelihood of queues, making it “capable of managing arrival demands in a more dynamic manner.”

The application states: “ASDA’s development proposals seek to improve the customer offer at the established South Shields store, better catering for the needs of existing customers

“The proposed petrol filling station will have a small ‘Walk-to-Pay’ kiosk with no retail offer.

“It is reasonable to assume that most customers wishing to purchase retail products would continue to visit the ASDA foodstore.

“Given the modest adjustment to car park capacity it is reasonable to assume that the proposals can be accommodated without detriment to existing parking operations.

“ASDA has also not reported any operational difficulties associated with car park capacity at the store.”

It is estimated 70% of trips to the station will be linked with the food store and will be made by staff and customers who already travel to the business.

Of the new trips to the site made by drivers filling up, it is estimated a proportion will already be passing the store, as users of the adjoining roads for another, separate purpose.

If built, the number of spaces available at the store fall from 568 to 537, with the application stating there have been no issues with the existing layout.