Certas Energy Expo Awards Press Release

The best service stations across the country have been honoured at a top industry awards.

Six businesses were recognised at the Gulf Roadside Services EXPO & Awards which took place in Chester on Thursday, March 21.

The winners were: Brooksend Service Station in Birchington, Kent (Best Gulf); Star Fuels in Peacehaven, East Sussex (Best Pace); Attenborough Service Station in Attenborough, Nottinghamshire (Most Improved); Greens Service Station in Burnley, Lancashire and Nottingham, Nottinghamshire (Special Recognition); Oasis Garage in Long Riston, Hull, (Best Oomph); and Red Lion Truck Stop in Harpole, Northampton (Best Truck Stop).

The national awards are organised by Certas Energy’s Roadside Services division, which supports more than 400 service station sites across the UK, many of which are small, independent businesses.

Richard Billington, Managing Director of Certas Roadside Services, said: “These awards are our way of celebrating the small businesses which show great business acumen and innovation in a tough industry.

“Being a small business owner can be very challenging and you can often feel quite isolated, so this is our way of thanking the teams that make up a network of service stations that keep our country moving.”

Husband and wife duo, Zarfeen and Ali Sadrudin run the The Red Lion Truck Stop, on Weedon Road, Northampton, which was named winner of the Best Truck Stop Award.

They were recognised for the impressive range of services available at their truck stop, including 220 truck parking spaces, a restaurant and bar with international cuisine, 24/7 shop, truck wash, and even gaming facilities.

A firm favourite of HVG drivers from far and wide, The Red Lion is one of the most popular service partners on the SNAP network, a payment system which enables HGV operators, managers and drivers to use cashless transactions across Certas Energy’s bunker network to pay for secure parking and truck wash facilities.

Zarfeen, 40, said: “We’re ecstatic! This has been 17 years in the making. In the early days, it was really challenging when Ali and I were running everything as a duo, but now we have a fantastic team in place. We couldn’t have done this without their hard work. Every push to keep improving has been worth it.”

Malcolm Blake and his son Oliver, who run Oasis Garage on Long Riston Bypass, were named the winners of the ‘Best Oomph’ award for the second year running.

They were presented with the award for fantastic customer service and promotion of the Certas Oomph loyalty card scheme, which has seen a 35percent increase in engagement.

Malcolm, 65, said: “We are really thrilled to have won this award for the second year running.

“It’s a testament to our fantastic staff who put all the hard work in.”

Janagha Wafa, who owns Greens Service Stations in Burnley and Nottingham, was named as the winner of the Special Recognition Award.

Jan acquired the site in Nottingham in 2014 followed by Burnley in 2020, which underwent major redevelopment before reopening in 2022.

Despite delays caused by the COVID pandemic, the new site was opened in September 2022 and has gone on to achieve 3ML fuel sales in the first year of trading – something the team expected to reach within four years.

Jan, who is a father of six, said: “It’s fantastic to be recognised – I am very proud. It’s been a long two years and we’ve done a lot of work to complete the project, but now it’s going really, really well. 

“We wouldn’t have achieved it without a lot of support from everyone, from the Certas Team to our staff and site manager, Sayeed Abdul Bashir. 

“We’ve had a great response from the local community – we are serving 800 customers a day and we have nothing but excellent reviews online. We are proud to provide an excellent service for the community.”

He added: “I never imagined as a young boy in Afghanistan that I would be one day standing on a stage receiving an award for my business. It meant so, so much to me.”

Jan, 54, came over the UK when he was just 17. He worked his way up to part own a service station in Birmingham, before buying his own service stations in Peterborough, then Nottingham and Burnley.

Attenborough Service Station was awarded the ‘Most Improved’ award at the event. Recently the site has undergone a complete refit with new pumps, and opens for 24 hours. They have also partnered with Carrs Pasties, a Yorkshire Business that supplies freshly made pastries to the shop.  

Owner Nakendram Piratheepan, known as Theepan, 38, said: “This award is down to the team of people I who support me, from the staff at the service stations to the team at Gulf – my team is my success, there is no other way to say it.

“We have put a lot of effort into giving it a complete refit and making sure it gives people what they want.”

Theepan, who is the director of Stirling Petrolium Ltd, which has 23 sites across the country, added:

“It has been an exciting and very rewarding few years but definitely still work in progress. We have a fantastic team, all committed to the cause and eager to play a part in our expansion.”

Steve Manklow, who runs Star Fuels in Peacehaven, Sussex, was named as the winner of the Best Pace category.

Steve, who has run the business for 25 years, won the award for Star Fuel’s outstanding retail offering which has been described as a ‘true local supermarket in the community of Peacehaven’. 

Steve said: “Honestly, I’m over the moon! We were delighted just to be invited to the EXPO. As a little garage on the south coast of England to be nominated and then to actually win has been surreal. We’re just the little guys but this is the biggest thing to happen to us in 25 years!”

“Every day I wake up and I’m very lucky to be living my dream of running an amazing business. None of this would be possible without my wife, Lorraine and my amazing and incredibly hard-working team, in particular my right-hand man, our Area Manager, Brian McLean.”

Easwaran Surean, who runs Brooksend Service Station in Kent, was named as the winner of the Best Gulf category. He has run the business for four years with his wife, Sivasakthi. They won the award for turning the once neglected site around, undergoing a full renovation, installing new amenities and achieving 451% growth. 

With more than 30 years of petrol retailing experience, Easwaran said: “After buying the petrol station in 2020, we’re thrilled to have turned it around after a long time with no investment. It’s brilliant to see the site thriving. We’re so grateful to our hard-working team for all their support.”

The awards were presented at a special ceremony held at Carden Park in Chester on Thursday, March 21, which gave independent service station owners the opportunity to meet their contemporaries. It was also an opportunity to learn about future renewable energy solutions, such as the launch of EvoUltra, renewable diesel for retail sites, and Evolo, Certas’s new EV charging solution.

The awards sponsors included CMS, Petroassist, Metro, PDI and SNAP.