Bad enough having a house to sell in uncertain economic times. But following Murphy Oil's recent sell-off announcement (see News Extra, page10) how do you go about selling a refinery when you get the distinct impression they're fast going out of fashion plus there are three others (out of eight!) already on the market. I'm not sure 'location, location, location', or a quick lick of white paint will do the job.

Some good news could be on the horizon it seems for our valiant Car Wash Association chairman David Charman, and the few trusty souls that have continued to support the car wash cause, particularly through some rather dark and lonely days.

Much like the oil spill itself, the BP Deepwater Horizon story continues to run and run (see News Extra, page 10). The effects of this disaster are so far reaching environmentally, politically, and financially, not to mention the personal tragedy that it's hard to comprehend how anyone at the centre of it all (Tony Haywood springs to mind!) can even think about getting up in the morning.

A poll of retailers by the Association of Convenience Stores on the eve of last month's General Election showed that 54% of retailers had not at that stage made up their mind who to vote for twice as many as national opinion polls showed for the general population.

It's encouraging to see that petrol retailers aren't fighting their corner alone. Or so it would seem when you've got someone like Philip Dunne, MP for Ludlow, speaking as though he really understands the vulnerabilities of the service station business.

Well, despite what seems to be an ongoing stream of insurmountable grief whether it's fuel pricing, the weather, business rates or some other impending legislative gloom it seems that underneath it all, you're really quite positive about the petrol retailing business.

There is real momentum gathering over the issue of the business rates revaluation, and credit must go to the new man giving the 'formerly-known-as-PRA' organisation a good kick in the rear. Brian Madderson is breathing life into the argument that the revaluation calculations are based on unrepresentative data ie from high-volume oil company-owned sites and supermarkets, not the average independent retailing operation, which sells less than 2.5mlpa, and turns over £8,000 a week in a 59sq m shop (according to data from Experian Catalist). Hardly comparable to the figures achieved by the supermarkets.He is spreading the word through lobbying MPs, the media and meetings with staff at the Valuation Office Agency.

Well, what a chilly start to the year which hadn't looked all that welcoming, what with the battle over Business Rates, potential fuel problems, the economy lurching from one disaster to another, and a general election on the horizon.

Where to start when there are such serious issues facing the forecourt sector, as the twists and turns of life as a petrol retailer continue to max-out everyone's nerves this year.

This seems to be one of those times (there have been others!) when everything comes to a head, and petrol retailers could be forgiven for thinking someone's out to get them. This month's issue kicks off with the expected, but nevertheless, grim news about business rates. It seems to hit the majority of retailers right where it hurts because those in the three to seven mlpa category bear a "disproportionate burden", according to one forecourt rating specialist. Shop sales are capped at £2 million, working nicely in favour of the supermarket operators. Great.

Many congratulations to everyone at Sewell Retail, and especially to Patrick and David, our new holders of the Forecourt Trader of the Year trophy. What a success story for them, with three of the company's sites winning top awards, and a fourth coming very close. (Full coverage starts on page 39).

If you disagree with the proposed ban on the display of tobacco then there is still time to object. But don't delay. The Association of Convenience Stores has a very good website providing the background to the main issues and a draft letter you can copy and send to your MP before the October 12 deadline.

Yes it's true - although I don't think it has really sunk in for me and a good many others yet - for the first time in 20 years there is no Mogas column at the back of the magazine. We shall all miss the extremely talented and insightful writings of our Mogas columnist, whose identity has always been a well-kept secret - despite the many attempts by one and all to uncover it! For the moment we will keep it that way - in case (and in the hope) that our beloved Mogas will one day pick up his pen again, if only on special occasions. After all, his knowledge and experience of the petrol retailing sector goes a long way back, to when the industry was a very different place - to a time when there were more than 20,000 forecourts, and licensees were a thriving sector of the fuel retailing community. Mogas had plenty to say about the many conflicts between oil companies and retailers, as the balance of power fluctuated; as well as the radical changes that have taken place in the industry; and the many characters that have come and gone. Remember the Manic Hen? That was a Mogas-ism, concocted from the surname of a Texaco executive who created havoc in the network in the '90s. His more recent columns remain on the website for you to peruse. Meanwhile, we're more than happy to pass on your sentiments to him - he still has forecourts, although is busy pursuing other businsses.

Well, it was certainly a day to remember when I met the great man Gerald Ronson - who is known as much for his hairdryer treatment (he doesn't suffer fools) as he is for his legendary entrepreneurial prowess. Luckily for me he was perfectly charming, and it was fascinating listening to him chat about his passion for petrol retailing, and his great early days in the business, when he stuck two fingers up at the major oil companies and transformed petrol stations forever.

Now we know why the country's in such a mess, MPs have been so busy fiddling their expenses they don't have their minds on the real game. For example when those hard-working chaps at the Association of Convenience Stores went to visit them recently about the dubiousness of the proposed tobacco display ban, they were probably more focused on whether their expenses had been signed - particularly the silver spoon cleaning and having the hedge trimmed into the shape of a peacock - and whether this cost could be fobbed off onto the taxpayer.

Always look on the bright side of life, as the famous Monty Python song goes, and what a jolly philosophy that is. Easy to sing at a knees-up maybe, but hard to stick to at all times, especially when someone nearby sneezes in a suspiciously swine-flu way, and you can immediately feel your temperature rising...

It's been pretty much a roller-coaster ride on the business rates front. The last-minute reprieve announced by the Chancellor Alistair Darling was welcome in one sense, except that payments have only been deferred, and then there are next year's increases on top of those, with the remainder the following year...

== New-look magazine ==

Well, first let me say, how can there be such confusion over the proposals about the introduction of on-the-spot penalties for drive-offs? Firstly, the suggestion of a drive-off penalty was buried among the 'extra measures' being proposed to add to the current Penalty Notice Disorder. Then all of these proposals - which included an £80 fine for shop staff selling tobacco to under-18s - were withdrawn almost as soon as they were announced. By all accounts the government seemed to be enacting the penalties without any apparent consultation. And now there seems to be no answer to the subsequent "when and for how long" questions about any future consultation. And this is before the petrol retailing industry as a whole has decided whether such a penalty scheme for drive-offs - which cost the industry the very serious matter of £30m a year - would be a good thing or bad. For example BOSS, which represents UK service stations, seems in this instance to have completely opposing views to the retailers running them. How can that be?

As the year kicks off it's like waking up in a bad dream - the things we have known and trusted for so long are disintegrating before our eyes. It seems as though nothing can be relied upon, whether it's a world-renowned bank or your local branch of Woolies. And now we wait to see what will become of the PRA.

With well-known high street names collapsing like a pack of cards at what should be their busiest time of year - and as we're still suffering the after-shocks of the failure of the big banking institutions -it's anyone's guess where it will all end. But certainly by all accounts the Government's pre-budget announcements have not done anything to reassure the nation. They have been likened to 'moving the deckchairs on the Titanic'. In other words, whichever way you look at it, we still seem to be sinking. If everyone had a job and a huge pay rise maybe things would be different. But why would anyone suddenly go out on a spending spree just to save a few pence here and there, when they haven't actually got any money, and anyway they've already been spending money they haven't got - and that's the big problem. In terms of fuel it's literally a case of giving with one hand and taking away with the other - with loads of bother for the retailer in between. Some comfort for the petrol retailing business though is that people do NEED food and fuel - it's not a case of WANT. I don't know anyone who 'wants' to go onto a forecourt to buy fuel, but they have to (especially if they want to get to work, to earn money, to spend it, to save 2.5% on the VAT!). That makes them a captive audience and gives retailers the opportunity to win them over with a good service.

Such drama on a world scale leads to such challenges at grass roots level. While everyone has been focused on the bewildering goings-on in the financial world, suddenly, like missing a turning on the motorway, your own small orbit - more specifically your fuel buying strategy - seems to be heading rather rapidly in the wrong direction. You've got fuel in your tanks that cost more than you can sell it for. And you've got abuse from your normally fair-minded customers who think you're a greedy 'wotsit' because your fuel prices are too high. But, same as every day, you're just trying to make a living. Some retailers have been hit harder than others however.

Aside from all the crashing and banging going on in the financial markets around the world, this has been a pretty significant month for UK petrol retailers too. By all accounts they have discovered their power as a collective force. Never before have so many retailers been galvanised into pulling together in one direction to such effect. The ashen faces triggered by BP's stand-off with Arval have now visibly relaxed into relieved - if wary - smiles.

If there is such a thing as a silver lining in these dark clouds of a gloomy August then perhaps it could be BP's stand against Arval over card charges.

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.

Good news that the Association of Convenience Stores is to establish a formal group to tackle the many threats facing forecourt car wash operators.

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.

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