Fill ’er up, Scotty
Even the most hardened criminal would think twice about driving off without paying at this petrol station. Is a stolen tank of fuel really worth being exterminated for?
Three Daleks are on 24-hour patrol at the Hull Road Service Station in York. There’s also a Cyberman staring down from the roof, as well as Doctor Who’s Tardis on the forecourt (we’re not sure if it takes unleaded or diesel). Go inside and you’re still not safe. Anyone stocking up on food and drink from the mini-supermarket (said to be the “Last Shop Before Mars”) will find themselves under surveillance from the business’s head of security: a full-sized storm trooper from Star Wars.
Info
Address Hull Road Service Station, 339 Hull Road, York YO10 3LE, +44 (0)1904 411312, Facebook: Innerspace Stations, www.hull-road@innerspacestations.com | Public Transport By car: 9-minute drive from York on the A1079/Hull Road. Closest bus stops: on Hull Road | Hours 24/7| Tip The local branch of the British Fantasy Society organises a regular sci-fi and fantasy “pubmeet” featuring guest authors. Find out more on Twitter: @YorkPubmeet.
From all this, you might guess that the owner is something of a sci-fi fan. And you’d be right. Graham Kennedy ordered the Daleks and Cyberman from a specialist prop maker, and he is always looking for something new to add to the collection. He even travelled to Cambodia to buy a 9-foot Bumblebee Transformer replica, which cost him £2,000 in transportation fees alone. That was followed with a giant Optimus Prime robot from the same franchise.
You can visit Planet Wash to get your car sparkling and ready to join the inter-galactic superhighway (aka York’s outer ring road). And rest assured, there is no prejudice here: “We serve both humans and aliens to the best of our ability,” is the staff’s proud boast.
All this makes the mundane act of filling up the car something more akin to a theme-park ride – and it has helped the service station become one of BP’s busiest in Britain. Graham, who has been awarded an MBE for raising nearly £1 million for charity, says he hopes the business, also known as Innerspace Stations, will operate in outer space one day. It is easy to imagine a Naboo royal cruiser making a pit stop here as the station orbits a planet in a galaxy far, far away …
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