00:01So we're with Michael Owen, owner at Station Garage in Castletown and there's big
00:06changes afoot, isn't there? Yeah, it's become time to move on. Manx Petroleum's
00:14retail services as is are taken over. Peter Whittaker who used to run the
00:20co-op, used to run Spa, he'd be the new manager. We're going to stay open,
00:24we're open now till the 15th of April, we'll be closing at the end of business
00:28on the 15th of April and then we'll be doing a bit of stock checking and stuff
00:33like that and getting everything sorted. They're actually taking over on the 18th
00:37but they'll be remaining closed for maybe up to two, three, four weeks. Okay, for refurbishment?
00:44For a full refurbishment, yeah. And what's that involved? Well, there's new
00:49petrol pumps going in, new underground pipe work, all new tank gauges and stuff
00:56like that. So they're bringing the site right up to the latest spec and then
00:59interior, they're going to refit the shop out and stuff like that.
01:04So it'll be a complete new setup. Now, it's a family business. How long have you been here?
01:10We've been here 34 years. Yeah, we moved in May the 1st, 1992. Yeah. We took over from John Moon.
01:19Right. When it was only a small little petrol station over this side and we've built it up from there.
01:23And was the family involved in the business before that? We've always been, our family's always been
01:29involved in the, in the petrol industry. Yeah. My dad worked, well, my granddad, Reg, he worked for
01:36Esso as a petrol tanker driver. Okay. Then my dad took over Tiger Tim's in Douglas, which was on the
01:42key, which was right by, down where the bike style and that is now. And then when he retired from
01:50that,
01:51he carried on repairing and fitting petrol pumps. And then we got the opportunity to take this over
01:56in 92 and 34 years later. So you've seen quite a few changes over the years. Oh yeah. Yeah. Massive
02:02changes, massive changes. And I think that not, not for the better. No, not for the better. I don't think
02:10we don't have the Isle of Man is, I think is in a bad place now. We don't have food
02:19security. We don't
02:19have like, we don't have simple things like, we have some fantastic little bread makers and stuff
02:25like that, but not like a retail like Ramsey Bakery and stuff like that used to be. We've just lost
02:31KC Foods,
02:32which is another massive, you know, lost it. There must have been 10 or 15 people working there.
02:38It's just getting harder and harder as a small business to survive. And I thought recent events
02:46have shown the importance of the island becoming a bit more self-sustainable. Yeah. What's happened
02:52recently is it's something that's going to affect everybody. Unfortunately, fuel affects everybody.
02:59It affects movement like millions of miles away that we don't even see. And we,
03:05we don't realize just how much it affects us, but we don't take steps to stop it neither. No. Like,
03:12you know, have we got hundreds of people now, car sharing, going in to save fuel? Probably not.
03:19Has the government made the bus service free? Probably not. You know, you've got a couple of
03:23monsters to help out. Sure. And they talk about not being able to help. Well, they could take the
03:29docking charges off the boats and stuff like that, which would all help and things. It's all government
03:34stuff. The, the, the, um, recent decision to step back's got nothing to do with, with the events.
03:40No, no, we were, we were, we were well into, um, leaving, if you know what I mean. It's taken
03:47a long
03:47time to get everything in place and stuff like that. Um, this is just a, a, a crap ending to
03:54it,
03:55really. And the fact that everybody's like, you know, suffering now, the price went up 40p a litre,
04:00which is unheard of. What will you be doing once you step back? Um, probably, um, I've got a few
04:07trips
04:07with the trials team this year around Europe again, and, um, British championship that started last
04:14weekend. Um, we had three riders away at that. We won, won one class, a couple of podiums in the
04:20other, a new young lad that's coming through. And then Caitlin's doing the world championship again
04:25next year for the trials team. Hopefully Lily in the British championship and then, um, Ella,
04:30hopefully back by the end of the season as well. So keeping busy, very busy. Will you be missed?
04:36I would, uh, yeah, I'd like to say I will be, but I'm sure my name, we still have people
04:42that come
04:42in here and call the garage moons. So I don't know whether, hopefully when I go,
04:46somebody will come in and say it was station garage mode. I wish you all the very best.
04:50That's it. Thank you, Michael. Thank you.
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