The latest BOSS Forecourt Crime Survey has revealed what it believes are some encouraging statistics which prove the industry’s investment to cut crime is paying off. While the overall cost of forecourt crime is up three per cent to £20.6m, the cost is still decreasing when compared to results of 2000 (£28m). The number of robberies is down 32 per cent and incidents involving weapons is down 22 per cent.

“The results are very positive and reflect all the hard work from oil companies, retailers, the police and BOSS,” said Kevin Eastwood, chief executive of BOSS. “The results reinforce the significant investment made – in physical security and reward schemes – to protect staff and customers.”

There has been a slight increase in the cost of theft and drive-offs, but Eastwood explains that the cost of theft rising slightly is a reflection of the fact that more forecourts have a supermarket or c-store on-site so the opportunities for thieves are greater.

However, Eastwood adds that the rate of increase in drive-offs is slowing thanks to efforts by the police to identify prolific drive-off offenders, and levels of burglary are also down on previous years. He said: “Burglary is in decline because of the increase in 24-hour locations so while theft goes up, burglaries go down – the two correlate.”