A car mechanic has been given one month's notice to quit the site he has occupied for more than 30 years.

Phil Darby, 50, has run the Rectory Service Station workshop in Rectory Road, Worthing, since he was a teenager.

Seven months ago Worthing Borough Council refused a developer planning permission to build a small supermarket on the site.

However, Q8 Petroleum (UK Holdings) Ltd, owner of the site, has ordered Mr Darby to shut up shop 33 years after he began trading there.

It is expected to appeal to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister against the council's refusal to grant planning permission.

Mr Darby was originally given a month's notice until September but he managed to get an extension until the end of October.

His fight to keep his business on the site is backed by two generations of customers.

Mr Darby said: "It's a case of big business taking away a 33-year-old garage with lots of customers. The notice period is ridiculous. It doesn't give me much time to find new premises or tell my suppliers.

"I've been dismissed like a piece of dirt on someone's shoe. To them it's a business deal. To me it's my livelihood."

One customer, James Willson, 74, of Rectory Road, said: "Mr Darby is a first class mechanic. No one wants to lose him, especially to a supermarket. This is another case of glutinous money-grabbing supermarket chains walking over the little businessman."

Tory and Lib Dem councillors objected to the planning application for a supermarket.

Lib Dem MP Peter Bottomley said: "Supermarkets don't need to be in the middle of residential areas. A supermarket on this site will lead to much more traffic, which will be dangerous given the number of schools nearby.

"People appreciate having a good local repair garage. What is happening to Mr Darby is unfair and unpopular."

Mr Darby's parents ran the site for 20 years as a petrol station and garage until 1993 when Q8 Petroleum took it over from Gulf Oil.

Mr Darby continued to run his workshop under a lease from the new owners. Ten years ago, a new lease was drawn up giving Mr Darby no rights if the owners wanted to evict him.

He tried to buy Rectory Road Service Station for about £300,000 when it came up for auction in July but was beaten by another bid, thought to be £665,000 by Tesco.

Kuwait Petroleum, owner of the Q8 brand, said completion of the sale would be at the end of this month.

A spokesman said: "Mr Darby, a tenant on the site, was given notice to quit the site by the end of September 2005 pursuant to the terms of his tenancy agreement."

Tuesday, October 18, 2005