All Forecourt Trader articles in August 2010
View all stories from this issue.
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News
ACS welcomes new ombudsman
The ACS has welcomed the Government’s decision to introduce a Grocery Code Adjudicator (GCA) to oversee the relationship between supermarkets and suppliers from as early as next year. In the announcement made this week, Ministers confirmed a departure from the Grocery Ombudsman proposed by the Competition Commission in 2008. The ...
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News
BP announces ’significant milestone’ in plugging oil leak
BP announced today that it had reached a ’significant milestone’ in its efforts to permanently seal the leak at Deepwater Horizon. The company said its ’static kill’ procedure in the Gulf of Mexico had been successful, adding: "The well pressure is now being controlled by the hydrostatic pressure ...
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News
Tanker drivers strike threat
Retailers have been warned that fuel tanker drivers could strike later this year unless job losses, pay cuts and ’constant reorganisation’ are stopped. Unite, the country’s biggest union, said it had called an autumn summit to discuss what action needed to be taken after warning that morale among drivers was ...
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News
Number of Business Rates appeals tops 2,000
More than 2,000 fuel retailers have already lodged appeals against the 2010 Business Rates. The figure emerged following a Parliamentary Question last week from MP Charlie Elphicke. Elphicke’s enquiry was: "To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many appeals against Valuation Office Agency rating assessments by independent petrol filling ...
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News
New traffic after Gulf switch
Lancashire retailers Paul and Elaine Wellings have seen new traffic at their site since switching their fuel brand to Gulf. The husband and wife team said the move had already proved a success at Houghton’s Filling Station in Garstang, Preston, which they have run for 15 years. Their decision to ...
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News
Pump prices set to soar again
RMI Petrol has warned that fuel prices are likely to rise by up to 8% by the start of 2011. Motorists are also expected to see a hike of 3% at the pumps by this Bank Holiday weekend. Currency movements and oil price increases have been blamed, along with hikes ...
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News
ACS launches Stop the Tobacco Display Ban campaign
The Association of Convenience Stores (ACS) has launched a national campaign called Stop the Tobacco Display Ban. The postcard campaign aims to get retailers to lobby Health Secretary Andrew Lansley to overturn the legislation on the ban while plans are still being discussed by the government.ACS chief executive James Lowman ...
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News
Diesel cars sales overtake petrol for first time
Sales of diesel cars have overtaken those of petrol cars for the first time as motorists opt for more fuel-effecient vehicles.The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) reported that diesel car registrations accounted for 50.6% of the market in July while alternative fuel vehicles also achieved record market share ...
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News
Pace adds 15 new sites after brand refresh
Pace Fuelcare has announced that it has added 15 new independent sites to its network since it refreshed its brand and image 10 months ago. Pace said these sites included the MRH (GB)-owned Elmstead site near Colchester which had switched from Texaco. According to Pace, 45 existing Pace dealers have ...
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News
New "green" M5 site gets thumbs up
Westmorland Ltd has been granted planning permission for a new "eco-friendly" motorway service station on the M5 in Gloucestershire. Officials at Stroud District Council gave the £35m Gloucester Gateway project, which will serve locally-sourced food and ban fast food outlets like Costa Coffee and MacDonald’s, the thumbs up this week. ...
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News
Last chance to vote for your Retailer Champion
This week is your last chance to vote for who you think should be named Forecourt Trader and P&H Retailer Champion 2010. The award aims to recognise the key industry players in the fuel retailing sector and is run in conjunction with the principal sponsor of the awards, Palmer and ...
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NewsRMI Petrol calls on PM to come up with fuel stabilizer plan
RMI Petrol has written to the Prime Minister urging him to set up a working party to produce a comprehensive plan for a fuel stabilizer. The stabilizer was proposed in the Conservatives’ pre-election manifesto and would work by offseting global oil price increases by reducing duty. Brian Madderson, RMI Petrol ...
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News
Switch to Spar boosts sales for MRH
MRH (GB)’s Nettlebed site has seen a 75% increase in shop sales since it underwent a major development and switched to Spar last year. The store, previously a kiosk, opened in August 2009 after following the Spar ‘Stores of the Future’ format. Located in an Oxfordshire Village, Spar ...
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News
LCC Group opens second 24hr pay@pump site using HTEC technology
GO, part of the Cookstown based energy company the LCC Group, is set to open its second fully automated site at Belfast Road, Carrickfergus, Co Antrim on September 20, 2010.The new site in Carrickfergus follows the successful opening of LCC’s first GO pay@pump site in Cookstown in August 2008. ...
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News
New to the UK - Aquarama Stargate S5 arrives in Thaxted
Motorists in Thaxted were celebrating this week following the arrival of a new, state-of-the-art car wash at the town’s main high street service station. Craig Reynolds, manager of the Saracens filling station in Thaxted High Street, Essex, switched on the new Aquarama Stargate S5 before an appreciative audience of local ...
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News
Asda cuts could trigger fuel price war
A fuel price war could be in the offing following Asda’s announcement this week that it was cutting the price of both unleaded and diesel by up to 1ppl and 2ppl respectively. The latest move means drivers filling up at Asda will not pay more than 111.9p for unleaded ...
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News
Police still investigating after £45,000 Morrisons fuel theft
Police are still trying to work out how daring thieves pulled off one of Britain’s biggest-ever fuel thefts, by siphoning off £45,000-worth of petrol and diesel from a supermarket filling station. Morrisons, in Burton-on-Trent, was hit in a night-time raid on August 3, when the gang managed to drill into ...
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News
Spar refit boosts sales
Retailer Malcolm Williams has seen sales increase 15% since finishing a refit at his Hillcroft Service Station site in Newport, Wales. Malcolm, who has been a prominent local businessman in the area for the past 33 years, joined Spar in December 2005. Then his trading area was just 600sq ft. ...
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News
Major fuel brands may decline due to refinery sell off
RMI Petrol has warned that the mass exodus from the UK refinery market could result in the major oil company brands disappearing from the dealer sector. The comments followed US company Murphy Oil putting its Murco Milford Haven operation on the market – meaning four out of the eight refineries ...
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News
Drivers ’green’ over hand car washing
Over half of British motorists regularly wash their cars by hand or have them done at hand car wash operations, oblivious to the effects this has on the environment. A survey of 1,000 motorists, released by Total and supported by thegreencarwebsite.co.uk, found that 74% of drivers understand that their ...