All Forecourt Trader articles in August 2013 – Page 2
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News
FPB welcomes Bank of England guidance
The Forum of Private Business has welcomed Bank of England governor Mark Carney’s comments on the merits of forward guidance alongside the bank’s quarterly economic forecasts today. Chief executive Phil Orford said: “Today’s revised growth forecast by the Bank of England will act as a further boost to business confidence ...
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News
Winning the battle
St George’s Service Station, Church Way, Doncaster was a site in decline with pump volumes falling to two million litres (from four million at its peak), weekly shop sales of less than £5,000, a forecourt full of pot holes and a canopy leaking like a sieve. Lack of investment over ...
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News
Money Talk: Being limited... part two
When you trade as a sole trader or as part of a partnership, strictly speaking you do not have to prepare or send a copy of your business accounts anywhere! That may surprise some operators who’ve always assumed that they were paying their accountants to do just that, and we’d ...
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News
Merril Boulton: Card charge
Top of the agenda this month has been the move by the European Commission to limit the scandalous and excessive charges retailers pay for processing credit and debit card payments (see News page 5, and News Extra on page 10). Two concerns: it’s likely to take ages for any limits ...
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News
in brief
Alfred Jones sells storesTop 50 Indies operator Alfred Jones (Warrington) has confirmed that none of its forecourts are involved in the sell-off of 33 convenience stores to the Tesco-owned c-store group One Stop Stores. The Office of Fair Trading has launched an investigation into the sale to consider whether it ...
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News
Candyland is open
Tangerine Confectionery has created the Candyland brand to bring together smaller brands under one name. The 44-strong range includes iconic products such as Wham and Dip Dab, which now also have the Candyland name on packs. These are flashed at 65p but there is a ’2 for £1’ offer supporting ...
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News
Welcome for cap on card charges
The PRA has welcomed the European Commission’s intention to cap ’interchange’ fees for credit and debit card transactions.PRA chairman Brian Madderson commented: "The PRA has lobbied the European Commission, Office of Fair Trading and most recently HM Treasury for a reduction in the punitive Merchant Service Charges and for greater ...
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News
Police helicopter tracks drive-off car
A helicopter was involved in a police chase in Telford, Shropshire, linked to a crackdown on petrol thefts in the town. Sniffer dogs were also dispatched after two men drove from a forecourt with cans of stolen fuel. The police pursuit began after the men drove away from Sainsbury’s petrol ...
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News
Istobal grabs opportunity to fill a gap in the car wash market
Car wash chemicals company Istobal is stepping up its efforts in the UK market to fill a vacuum left by some of its competitors, according to sales director Dave Lindon.He said: "Over recent months a few of the more established chemical manufacturers have either stopped producing products for the retail ...
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News
New car sales growing strongly
New car sales figures have shown strong growth with month-on-month sales up 12.7% compared with July last year. Private registrations increased by 11.9%. Sue Robinson, director of the National Franchised Dealers Association (NFDA), commented: “It is extremely encouraging that new car sales continued to improve in July with year-to-date growth now at 10.3%.” “Consumer confidence continues to grow with the British Retail Consortium reporting an increase in high street retail sales of 2.2% during July. “Dealers are reporting increased footfall in showrooms as consumers are drawn in by new products and services offered by dealers and manufacturers. With such strong manufacturer and finance offers currently available dealers are reporting that it is proving much easier to close a sale. However competitive pricing and strong incentives remain important if the sales trend is to continue throughout 2013.”
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News
GB Oils rolls out new card payment terminals
GB Oils is aiming to strengthen its dealer support package with the roll-out of the HTEC GemPAY card payment terminal. It says it will enable dealers to process transactions up to 10 times faster while providing increased end-user security in line with the latest PCI DSS compliance legislation. GB Oils ...
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Analysis
Change on the cards
The news that the European Commission is to introduce limits on the charges retailers pay for processing credit card and debit card payments has been welcomed by the PRA, but chairman Brian Madderson said a lot more still needs to be done to address problems in this area. The first ...
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News
chris Hunt
The House of Commons Energy Select Committee published its findings from its short inquiry on UK Oil Refining on July 26. UKPIA, along with some other downstream organisations and companies, submitted written evidence and gave oral evidence back in June. The key conclusions of the ECC are reported in the ...
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News
Stock up early to make Christmas a sales winner
Stick to the big brands and ensure you stock the right range throughout the entire season. That’s the message from Nestlé for this Christmas.According to Kantar Usage Panel data, early season sales account for a quarter of all seasonal impulse sales with a quarter of shoppers who buy early repeat ...
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News
Cold comfort
You might be sweating your ’whatsits’ off as you read this but cast your mind back a few months and you’ll shiver at the thought of March, which was the second coldest month since records began more than 100 years ago. Sneezes, coughs and colds hit higher-than-average levels, sending demand ...
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News
Day in the Life: Variety means the days fly by for Murco’s Mike
My day invariably starts off with the Tarzan call of the Chris Evans’ breakfast show at 6.30am (not everyone’s cup of tea I know, but the show gets me off to a good start). The first and possibly most difficult task of the day is getting my teenage son out ...
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News
Drop by drop
With fuel margins so low, it’s easy to understand why many retailers would want to keep investment in the forecourt side of their business low as well. But failing to properly monitor fuel stocks and ensure pumps are dispensing accurately could be nothing short of a false economy.Over-dispensing pumps are ...
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News
Static electricity help
The Energy Institute (EI) has updated its guidance for the petroleum industry on dealing with the hazard of static electricity.The third edition of ’Model Code of Safe Practice Part 21: Guidelines for the Control of Hazards Arising from Static Electricity’ provides guidance on identifying and assessing a range of ...
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News
Massive new player to enter UK market
A massive new competitor, which is a major player in North America, is set to enter the UK with a discount fuel offer.Costco, which has a worldwide turnover of $100bn, has applied for planning permission to build a petrol filling station (PFS) at its Liverpool site.Steve Pappas, managing director of ...
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News
New website with extra features for Fairbanks
Wet-stock management specialist Fairbanks has launched a new website, fairbanksglobal.com.The new website is customer focused enabling both new and existing customers to access a wide variety of resources, articles and guides ranging from legal environmental compliance to top tips on how to manage fuel stocks. Users will also be able ...