All Analysis articles – Page 7
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Analysis
Your industry needs you
Retailers have until October 18 to respond to an Office of Fair Trading (OFT) questionnaire as part of its assessment of the UK petrol and diesel fuel sector to identify whether or not there are competition problems it can tackle.The Petrol Retailers’ Association (PRA) has been chasing for a full ...
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Analysis
Rude awakening
A new campaign from the TaxPayers’ Alliance (TPA) and the Petrol Retailers’ Association (PRA) is giving motorists a much-needed wake-up call as it highlights the burden of excessive fuel taxes in a bid to raise pressure on the Treasury to cut fuel duty.More than 5,000 signs that show motorists exactly ...
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Analysis
Must try harder
Arather gloomy picture of how forecourt shoppers view the nation’s forecourts has been revealed in the latest Forecourt Report by leading sector wholesaler Palmer and Harvey. With a focus on ’understanding today and preparing for tomorrow’, the over-riding picture revealed in the report is "not an especially positive one", according ...
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Analysis
Supermarket sweep
More than two thirds of UK motorists are more likely to refuel their cars at a supermarket petrol station than any other forecourt, according to new research by customer intelligence company Market Force.The poll of 9,000 UK motorists last month revealed that 68.2% of customers most frequently fill up their ...
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Analysis
Daggers at dawn
The sparks flew last month as Justine Greening, MP, via an interview in The Sun newspaper, warned oil companies and fuel retailers, to ’pass on price cuts’ or face government action. The newspaper report said Transport Secretary Justine Greening had ordered officials to draw up a code of conduct in ...
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Analysis
How it all began
It was a time when petrol cost £1.70 a gallon or 38 pence a litre and Maggie Thatcher was re-elected making her the longest-serving Prime Minister since the early 19th century. Forecourt Trader was officially launched in April 1987, following its humble beginnings as a supplement within another title Car ...
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Analysis
Back to the grindstone
It’s back to the grindstone for RMI chairman Brian Madderson as the Office of Fair Trading provisionally rejected the call for a market study into road fuel retailing. The only encouraging part of the response was that it was ’provisional’. This gives Brian and others another six weeks to find ...
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Analysis
Panic stations
Chaos took hold on Britain’s forecourts last month as motorists followed confusing advice issued by government ministers to keep their tanks topped up, with one even suggesting using jerry cans.The warnings were issued in the wake of the Unite union announcing its tanker driver members had voted for strike action. ...
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Analysis
Over to you, OFT
The momentum had been gathering for some time. And at the appropriate moment RMI Petrol made its submission to the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) for an inquiry into the UK fuels market. It must respond within 30 days.The OFT submission followed a month in which supplies were disrupted through ...
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Analysis
Flexible friend
W hen the big trees fall, new ones grow back in their place. In the road transport fuel sector, Greenergy has become part of the new growth, supplying the needs of the market as the traditional operators fall away.Founded as a niche manufacturer of green fuels in 1992, it has ...
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Analysis
What’s in store?
This coming year will see the growing trend towards market consolidation, according to Adam Wadlow, partner at property specialist BarberWadlow."Last year’s Rontec deal with Total was possibly the start of a general pattern," he said. "The sale of Motor Fuel Group was another case in point. In order to survive ...
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Analysis
Duty bound
MPs voted unanimously last month to pass a motion demanding that the government puts the two fuel duty rises planned for next year on the back burner. The House of Commons backbench debate united all political parties with MPs calling on the government to consider the feasibility of a ...
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Analysis
Welcome pledge
DCC Energy has moved swiftly to reassure Total dealers about its commitment to their businesses, and a seamless transition once the acquisition from Rontec is completed.The initial, rather negative, reaction by Total dealers to the news that their contracts would be moving from Rontec to DCC, announced last month, was ...
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Analysis
What’s going on?
Last month many Total dealers were shocked to learn that contract completions permitting their supply arrangements will soon come under the control of a company many had never heard of. Their surprise although some had heard rumours followed the news release, issued on September 23, that DCC plc, the ...
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Analysis
Tragedy on the streets
Images of Dudley Road Service Station in Birmingham fenced off by Police cordon after three men were mown down and killed in front of the forecourt, hit home the tragic consequences of the violent disorder that spread across England last month.After the incident in the early hours of August 10, ...
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Analysis
Onwards and upwards
By all accounts Jet retailers in the south west have had nothing but praise for the service they have received from ConocoPhillips. That was until June, when they received notice that the company would no longer be able to supply and distribute transport fuels competitively to its customers ...
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Analysis
The deal is done
When stories emerged earlier this year about Gerald Ronson being the lead bidder for the Total network, it took the industry by surprise. But even more surprising has been the emergence of Shell as the subsequent buyer of more than half of Total’s company-owned sites. Despite agreeing to ...
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Analysis
Carry on complaining
Retailers are again being urged to take action against what they perceive to be ’unfair’ or ’predatory’ pricing. Andrew Lawrence of Lawrences Garages, who chaired last month’s RMI Petrol meeting in Gatwick, West Sussex, said it was incumbent on everyone to write to their MPs where there were problems. ...
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Analysis
Poles apart
Retailers are being urged to come forward with evidence of predatory pricing by supermarkets and oil companies as retailers’ fuel volumes continue to decline and margins are increasingly squeezed. Brian Madderson, chairman of RMI Petrol, has written to the government calling for an investigation into the unfair practices of both ...
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Analysis
Out of sight, out of mind?
Retailers and trade associations have united in their disappointment that a tobacco display ban will go ahead in England despite any credible evidence that concealing gantries reduces smoking.The announcement by health secretary Andrew Lansley on March 9 has also been met with surprise. The Conservatives had previously suggested they would ...