Challenge Johnsonville

 

PHOTO: ROBERT KITCHIN/STUFF Challenge Johnsonville owner Lloyd Hassed will pump his final tank of gas on Friday, despite trying for two years to renew his lease.

It’s not often the closure of a service station sees customers come in carrying plates of lamingtons for its staff.

Oversized cards with handwritten messages sat next to the cash register, as Challenge Johnsonville prepared to pump its final tank of fuel last Friday.

After more than 30 years, Lloyd Hassed’s business is making way for a self-service Waitomo fuel station.

But as retirement beckons, the circumstances of the business’s closure have cast a shadow over the 73-year-old’s departure.

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