What is believed to be one of the few remaining attendant service filling stations in Oxfordshire has sold its final drop of petrol - driven out by cheap supermarket fuel and the high cost of buying from the big oil companies.

The Lodge Hill garage near Abingdon has been selling fuel for more than 50 years but closed its last pump on Tuesday. It was the end of an era and follows a pattern of small independent garages closing in the face of fierce competition and with limited buying power.

Vickers of Lodge Hill owner John Vickers has been in the motor trade for more than 40 years. He said: "It is a sad day and the end of a unique attendant service for customers. We think we were the last in the county.

"Many of our regular customers - a lot of them pensioners who didn't like wrestling with self-service pumps - are very upset to see us go. But I am afraid we are the victim of competition from supermarkets selling cheap fuel and the big oil companies.

"We cannot buy sufficient quantities of fuel and so we are unable to get a decent buying price. It's a bit like the village shop and small post office - small garages are a dying breed."

Lodge Hill had another distinction - it was probably the most expensive in the county, selling diesel at 107.9 a litre and unleaded at 106.9.

Mr Vickers said he had agonised "long and hard" over the decision to close the petrol side of the business but in the end the financial facts didn't stand up.

He said to go self-service would have meant a major investment in new pumps and bigger fuel tanks.

He said: "With bigger storage tanks maybe we could have got a better deal on bigger quantities of fuel but the capital investment would have been too expensive."

The closure of the fuel side of the business has resulted in the two attendants Mick Moore and Jacky Turner being made redundant.

The car sales business, Vickers of Lodge Hill, will continue, with the petrol forecourt area used to display more cars.

Alan Evans, who runs AC and M Evans body repair shop on the same site, said: "I can go back to 1964 when I was a 17-year-old apprentice here and served on the pumps. In those days petrol was less than five shillings a gallon.

"Sad to see those prices go and sad to see the end of petrol sales at Lodge Hill."

Also disappointed was a regular customer, Susie Drysdale from Radley, who said: "I hate having to use self-service pumps and that's why I used Lodge Hill even if it was more expensive. The staff were so helpful and friendly. I will miss the garage."