Is the future miles away?

Nothing up front and no back up

Heading them off at the pass

He's on a roll

How clean are your tanks?

The Big Issue

== All's well that ends well ==

== Cock-up or conspiracy? ==

== With the right location and enough drive ==

== We've got it all covered except for the rent ==

== The price of power, the abuse of power ==

== You'll soon have to pay to stock top-ups! ==

== Headline news angers retailer ==

== Sunday trading - forecourts are exempt ==

== Following Tesco with off-the-peg premises ==

== Screen savers? We have some solutions ==

== Power of the press? ==

== Get the timing right ==

== It's good to talk ==

== Chip, chip, chip ==

== Accepting cards can be a costly business ==

== Callers having to drive really hard bargains ==

== Big Media, big bang ==

== Get group backing ==

== Internet threat ==

== New Year, new rules ==

== Another abuse of power ==

== The easy tick in the book ==

== Getting a good rate ==

== Communications R not us ==

== Just following orders ==

== Long may they serve ==

== Water, water everywhere ==

This story has worrying implications, possibly, for quite a few retailers. So do you know what 'zone' your forecourt is in, water-wise?

Last April I put my money on Tony Barlow, who runs The Mount Service Station in Shrewsbury, to win his battle with Saxon Paper and I'm pleased to say I won the bet (although as it was a bet with myself, I'll now have to pay up).

Even in a less-than-perfect world, retailers and suppliers are meant to be on the same side. But when things go badly wrong, how can you salvage what's left?

Neil McCarthy, who runs MPM Services in Suffolk, rang to ask if he had heard right. Was holiday entitlement for workers going up from 20 days a year to 28? And is it a done deal?

In the past few days I've spoken to two people engaged in retailing with businesses which had each clocked up 40 years as petrol forecourts.