Well, sorry for the gloomy lead story, but that seems to be the shape of things in many people's eyes. The continuous financial onslaught on the motorist, coupled with the general economic outlook, seems to be catching up with sales at the pump.
Mogas has certainly hit the nail on the head this month (see page 58) - as he does, let's face it most months - with his comments about everything happening at once. After all we've had ridiculously fast-rising fuel prices, falling demand, supplier price increases, tanker driver strikes, forecourts running dry, growing numbers of drive-offs and even a new kind of theft - 'hooded bilkers with jerry cans'. There's also the headache about biofuels and bugs; and the erosion of car wash business being valiantly tackled by the Car Wash Association. And that's just the forecourt side of the business.
These are strange times as fuel prices rise exponentially and the country seems on edge, as if preparing to fall over a precipice and into a deep recession. While everyone is getting caught up in what the future might hold, no one really knows, and the best anyone can do is stick to the day job, and do it as well as possible.
It's been a long time since there was such a universal outpouring of venom among retailers about any oil company as there is currently against BP. Retailers nationwide are spitting feathers. And who can blame them? One minute they're scrolling through the usual morning emails, 101 things going on in their mind as usual as they face the constant challenges of maintaining a successful business. Then - wham! - out of the blue, comes the email from BP, their 'partner' in business, with news that will make a significant dent in their anorexic fuel margin, and knock many thousands of pounds from their bottom line. All this to take place within a month - and, just to rub salt into the wounds, it comes as BP announces record profits.
A packed issue greets you this month - the end of a busy month for us and the start of a busy month for everyone attending the International Forecourt and Fuel Equipment exhibition which kicks off on Sunday, April 6 and runs for four days.
MPs taking action to make fuel retailers cut their pump prices? How ridiculously cheeky - and ignorant. It would also be extremely laughable (it's not April 1st is it?) if not for the sobering thought that these nitwits have a hand in running the affairs of the country.
A recent survey by car supermarket group Motorpoint revealed that car owners have been increasingly leaving their vehicles at home since fuel prices broke through the £1-a-litre barrier at the beginning of November.
Shell is certainly pushing the buttons of independent retailers nationwide as it continues with what is emerging as a brutal and incomprehensible pricing stance.
Having been through several Competition Commission inquiries about unfair competition in the petrol retailing sector - supermarkets undercutting fuel prices and so on - all to no avail, no one in our industry expected anything more from the government's provisional report into the grocery retailing sector.
Fuel duty rises, grumbles from the Road Haulage Association, the nights drawing in - there's a strong whiff of the dismal atmosphere of the autumn of 2000 when the country was brought to a standstill by disgruntled tanker drivers.
Suddenly there seems to be a lot of sympathy for the plight of the poor old service station. Site numbers have been tumbling for years, so it's ironic that when the rate of closure seems actually to be slowing, there's quite a lot of media fuss about it.
The rain certainly seems to have been on a mission this summer. And drowning people's homes and businesses seems to have been one of its goals. The pictures of cities and towns under water have made us all shudder, and if you've ever been a victim of a flood you'll know that when the water subsides, that is only the beginning of the trouble. The horrid, smelly, gungy mess that is left behind is the depressing start to months of cleaning up to get properties and lives back in working order.
A new prime minister, a new cabinet - will there be anything positive to come out of it for petrol retailers? Doubtful, seems to be the general thrust of opinion. And, as if to confirm that some things never change, almost within hours, certain supermarkets were taking the lead in announcing fuel price cuts. Oh no, comes the collective groan from the industry. Here we go again.
It’s great to see the petrol retailing community getting a few campaigns together and defending their territory. It’s about time. First off – the Garagewatch campaign to encourage more post offices to be sited on forecourts, rather than lose them forever.
So - many independents enjoyed an unexpected surge in business last month, thanks to some problems with fuel which was headed predominantly in the direction of supermarket fuel storage tanks in the south east.
