A Southbourne man who vowed to turn the fortunes of a troubled petrol station around has quit four months after taking over the premises.

The Daily Echo revealed last September how Ken Harris had decided to give up his distribution job in Reading to run the Murco service station in Southbourne Grove.

Ken, 61, said he was undeterred by the premises being at the centre of an alleged international card cloning scam; despite being one of the alleged victims.

He told the Echo: "I'm not worried by the bad publicity because I know that people are still using the Murco garage."

Ken, his wife Jane and their daughter Amanda were all alerted by their bank after failed attempts to withdraw money from their accounts in Canada.

He said: "People are obviously wary.

"But I want to reassure them that honesty will be our policy and their security paramount."

A month after Ken took over, three men arrested in connection with the investigation were released without charge.

Police said their enquiries into the alleged scam, involving more than 200 complaints, would continue.

Ken's last day running the station will be Monday.

He said: "I'm disappointed things haven't worked out.

"But I discovered, after only a matter of weeks, that I couldn't make any money out of it.

"Commission from fuel sales is next to nothing.

"The only people making money are the petrol companies.

"Since I took over we've had seven price rises.

"We were relying on shop sales but there is so much competition on Southbourne Grove.

"Confidence was returning in the station with more and more customers paying by credit card and fuel sales had also increased."

Ken, who bought the franchise for an indefinite period, said he was currently applying for distribution jobs.

He said: "I will probably have lost money; I'm disappointed because I gave up a very good job to take over the Murco garage and had such high hopes for the service station."