We love getting feedback from readers on some of our articles. Last month Des Mul-vany, who now lives in Manygate Lane, con-tacted us:
Dear Monica, imagine my surprise when I arrived at page 4 of Shepperton Matters earli-er today. I had a career with Mobil (1953-1993) and following an appointment as sales representative in Hampshire/West Sussex I was transferred to the territory in west Lon-don in 1965. And Deva Service station was one of my dealers. Mobil owned the property and the tenant was Tony White. He had been a very successful representative in the north of England based mainly on his aggressive promotion of Green Shield stamps with his dealers. Dealers promoting them could literally double, treble or more their throughput of petrol. I obviously got to know Tony well. He chose the name Deva after Deva Victrix, a legionary fortress and town in the Roman province of Britannia on the site of the modern city of Chester. Sadly, as Nick says the popularity of Green Shield waned, and larger forecourts with greater throughputs were now the vogue with oil companies. Mobil sold the site under a divestment programme and Tony retired to Fleet in Hampshire.
Another one of my deal-ers in the mid 1960s was D A Skeggs Ltd. Mobil owned the petrol station known as Shepperton Service Station in the High Street and Doug Skeggs was the tenant. He had been an employee of Mobil as an automotive engineer. He was a successful dealer with ambitions to expand. I was due to move later to Mobil’s office in Kingston. Doug suggested it would be a good idea to buy a newly built property in Broadlands Avenue. Prices in this area were considerably higher than Hampshire and we could not afford it, “you can’t afford not to”, he said. This was 1965. And we did buy it, but it was a struggle, particularly with two young chil-dren and another on the way. He was so right and we have enjoyed the last 55 years here in Shepperton, nearly 30 years in Broadlands Avenue!
I will send you photos from my mobile of me around that time and the Shepperton Service Sta-tion. The dental practice adjoining the service station was once Doug’s car showroom.
You may wonder why it is now a BP Station. In 1996 Mobil and BP decided on a joint venture throughout Europe with BP responsible for the fuels side of the business and Mobil responsible for all lubricants.