Record fuel prices have caused plenty of headaches for retailers in recent months, so it's easy for wet stock management to fall down the list of priorities.

Never has it been more important to take care of your wet stock. Obviously it's an extremely valuable commodity and any losses are money - or fuel - down the drain. However there are bigger issues at stake - namely protecting the environment. Cause damage to the environment and it could cause serious damage to your business not least of all because of the new EU Environmental Liability Directive, which is going through the consultation process, and is based on a 'polluter pays' principle. And don't be mistaken in thinking your insurance will help - it will in some cases, but not all. Because of concerns about the hefty cost of clean-ups, the Association of British Insurers has agreed that public liability policies should cover sudden and accidental pollution but not any gradual pollution or the mandatory clean-up costs involved. So if you've got a leak that's been dripping away for some time you could be in trouble.

The average petrol retailer could be losing as much as £15,000 per site, each year, due to indifferent monitoring of his fuel stock. And that's just for starters.

Motor fuel is the forecourt retailer’s key commodity, and with margins so tight it is crucial that none is ‘lost’ unnecessarily. However, wet-stock loss remains a real problem for most petrol retailers with issues such as leaks, vapour loss and even faulty equipment meaning there can be large variances between the fuel the retailer buys in and the amount that is sold.

With ever-tighter fuel margins never has there been a more critical time to know the status of your fuel stocks. You need to be able to track every drop, so you can see how much is vapour loss, how much could be leaking, and how much might be down to being short-changed on fuel deliveries. Those reading last month’s issue of Forecourt Trader will have seen that the PRA has launched a fighting fund to tackle the integrity of measurement for motor fuel deliveries.