From May 7, NHS staff can secure a 10p-per-litre discount at more than 70 Essar-branded retail forecourts around the UK. Tony McDonough reports

Liverpool city region-based fuel giant, Essar Oil UK, is offering frontline NHS staff battling the coronavirus epidemic.

From May 7, NHS staff can secure a 10p-per-litre discount at more than 70 Essar-branded retail forecourts around the UK by simply showing their NHS ID cards at the till point.

Based at Stanlow, on the banks of the River Mersey, Essar Oil UK’s facility is one of the largest refineries in the country, employing around 1,000 people. It supplies 16% of all UK road transport fuels and year produces 4.4bn litres of diesel, 3bn litres of petrol and 2bn litres of jet fuel.

The global Essar Group acquired the then loss-making Stanlow in 2011 from Shell and has since invested £650m turning it into a sustainable and profitable business which now generates annual revenues of more than £4bn

Ramsay MacDonald, Essar head of retail, said: “There aren’t many people who deserve to be rewarded more during the Coronavirus outbreak than NHS workers. We hope providing them with a discount is a small way for the energy industry to show its appreciation to them.

“Essar recognises the extraordinary job that NHS workers are doing to care for others and they deserve all our support through this crisis. We have been delighted with the great response from Essar dealers, who have enthusiastically helped deliver this recognition across our dealer network.”