Fuel “deserts” are appearing across the Westcountry with the number of filling stations at their lowest level since the 1950s.

A report by Palmer and Harvey, a wholesale forecourt supplier, showed that the number of filling stations has more than halved since the early 1990s.

Nationally, the ratio of petrol stations to population is 3,952. But in the worst-affected districts of the Westcountry, such as Penwith, that leaps to more than 15,000.

In Torridge in Devon, there is one for every 11,300 people, while areas like Kerrier, Caradon and East Devon also fare badly.

St Ives Liberal Democrat MP Andrew George said it was “no surprise”. He added: “There are many quite sizeable villages, like Mullion, where people have to travel ten miles inland just to fill up their tanks.

“It is something which has really happened over the last ten years or so with the supermarket discounts and their privileged access to the wholesale market.”

Further research from the Energy Institute showed that the number of UK forecourts has dipped below 9,000 for the first time since the 1950s and 1960s’ “golden” age of motoring. The all-time high was in 1967, when there were 39,958 forecourts throughout Britain, according to the institute’s Retail Marketing Survey.

But there were just 8,892

operational filling stations left at the end of 2010, down from 9,013 in 2009. The number of vehicles on the road reached a record 35.14 million last year.

Tim Jones, chairman of the Devon and Cornwall Business Council, said it was “yet more evidence of how the rural economy is shrinking”.

“The loss of key services which have been at the heart of the rural economy for many years is accelerating,” Mr Jones said.

“We have become a more urban-centric country and small independent retailers have not been able to compete with the supermarkets who can use fuel to draw in customers for other purposes.”

Mr Jones said the impact of closures had been compounded by the loss of other rural businesses like village stores, post offices and pubs.

“We have been losing petrol stations at an alarming rate,” Mr Jones added. “It is like a desert out there in terms of the number of independent retailers that are left.

“We are going to end up where there are only the supermarkets and national retailers on the major routes.”

While the number of outlets has shrunk, drivers in Devon and Cornwall continue to be hit in the pocket by high fuel prices. Record pump prices between April and June meant that motorists were paying an average 143.04 pence per litre for diesel and 137.43 for unleaded.

Last year, motorists clocking up 12,000 miles paid an average of £1,684 on petrol and £1,361 on diesel. But at current prices they will pay more than £1,952 on petrol and £1,614 on diesel this year.

In all, motorists will spend an extra £8.1 billion at the pumps this year compared with 2010.

The AA said the impact on peoples’ lives could be “downplayed” with many “losing mobility” because of pump prices.

“Since 2007, petrol sales have fallen by about 13.5 per cent and we expect the trend to continue,” a spokesman for the AA said.

“Our surveys show that, as the price of petrol goes up, motorists are having to cut back on how far they drive and that, in turn, will eventually have a further impact on the number of forecourts.”

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