All Forecourt Trader articles in February 2008
View all stories from this issue.
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News
Wiltshire site named best in Europe
A Wiltshire retailer has scooped more than £7,000 after being named the best TOTAL retailer in Europe. The TOTAL Melksham site beat 6,600 other sites in the oil company’s European network to win TOTAL’s Best European Retailer Award. TOTAL bosses are planning to present the cheque for 10,000 euros, or ...
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NewsShell signs go as Topaz invests €50m in new brand for Irish forecourts
Topaz Energy Ltd has announced a €50 million investment and expansion programme to create a new brand – Topaz – in the Irish fuels and retail business. Three hundred and fifty Shell and Statoil stations and 100 convenience stores are to be rebranded as Topaz, as well as the creation ...
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News
Not enough UK forecourts, says Motorpoint
Motorists in the UK believe there are currently not enough filling stations where they can pick up fuel, new research by car supermarket company Motorpoint has revealed. The research states that the 9,500 sites providing fuel may not be enough to cope with the demand of close to 30 millioncars ...
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News
Drive-off mums lead to crime rise in Oz
Desperate drivers are roaring off without paying for petrol in a crime surge costing service stations up to $300,000 a week in Australia, according to the country’s biggest selling daily newspaper, the Herald Sun. Record pump prices are being blamed for the rise of ’mum and dad’ petrol thieves.Station operators ...
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News
France bans alcohol at petrol stations
The sale of alcohol from French petrol stations is to be banned in a new campaign against drink drivers that includes the permanent confiscation of their vehicles for a second offence, according to a report in The Times. Petrol retailers were said to be angered by a measure that is ...
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NewsGrocery inquiry remedies are too timid, says ACS
Following a lengthy inquiry the Competition Commission’s findings do not go anywhere near far enough to address the problems faced by retailers and consumers in the UK grocery market, according to James Lowman, chief executive of the Association of Convenience Stores. The Commission’sprovisional decision on remedies, announced on Friday (February ...
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News
PRA says cut fuel duty to cut inflation
"With the price of fuel now clearly impacting on inflation, the time has come for the Chancellor to cancel the fuel duty increase scheduled for 1 April," said Ray Holloway, director of the RMI Petrol Retailers Association (PRA), commenting on inflation figures announced earlier this week. January’s Consumer Prices Index ...
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News
EPOS Engineers wins Morrisons forecourt maintenance contract
Morrisons has signed up EPOS Engineers on an annual contract to provide pump maintenance for 76 of its UK sites. The contract, being managed through Morrisons’ facilities management company LBI, means EPOS staff are on-call 24/7 for any pump issues Morrisons may encounter. Morrisonssaid it decided to work with EPOS ...
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News
Emission-based congestion charge ineffective says RMIF
Most private cars driven in central London fall outside the new emissions-based congestion charge level, so it is questionable if the plan will achieve its aim of further reducing central London traffic levels and overall emissions,” said Alec Murray, chairman of the Retail Motor IndustryFederation (RMIF). He was commenting on ...
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News
Don’t get caught out by new laws on lighters
Retailers are being reminded that new legislation regarding the sale of lighters comes into force in less than a month. Anyone caught selling lighters which are not child-resistant faces a fine of up to £20,000 and/or being jailed for 12 months after the European measures are introduced on March11. The ...
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NewsUniverse expands car wash division
Universe, the retail and loyalty systems company, whose principal trading subsidiary is HTEC, has acquired AIB Services Limitedand WSF Services Ltd, to strengthen its recently formed car wash and valeting services subsidiary, Jet Set Wash Services Ltd which trades as Jet Set. AIB is a family-owned business based in Bedford ...
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News
UK adults hold credit card record
British adults are more likely to have a credit or debit card in their wallet than consumers in any other country in Western Europe. Research by independent market analysts Datamonitor found that the average Brit now carried an average of around 2.8 payment cards in their wallet. This is an ...
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News
Retailers warned 2008 will be one of toughest yet
UK retailers should get ready to face one of the toughest years ever as the British consumer “feels the pinch,” warns Verdict Consulting. Businesses are in for a hard time in 2008 due to a “dangerous cocktail” of intense competition, space saturation, consumer apathy and slowing spend, whichare all likely ...
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News
Pressure mounts on Chancellor to scrap planned April fuel tax hike
The Petrol Retailers Association (PRA) is among a group of organisations which have written to the chancellor urging him to scrap plans to hike fuel duty again in April. The letter calls on Alistair Darling to abandon the move to add another 2p per litre to the price at the ...
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News
MPs given the lowdown on the plight of petrol retailers
Fuel retailers work under great financial pressure in order to provide a vital service, Ray Holloway, director of the Petrol Retailers Association told a group of MPs at a meeting in London yesterday (Wednesday, February 6). Holloway met the cross-party group of MPs to discuss the current position of the ...
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News
FPS condemns fuel duty hike
The Federation of Petroleum Suppliers’ Forecourt Division has joined other trade associations in seeking suspension of the fuel duty increase due to come into effect at the end of March. The two pence per litre rise in fuel duty last autumn is to be followed by a further rise of ...
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News
Interest rate plea as car sales fall
The Retail Motor Industry Federation (RMI) is calling on the Bank of England to cut interest rates after a drop in car sales during January. According to figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), the number of new cars sold duringJanuary 2008 was 162,097, down 2.1% on ...
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News
BP cuts jobs as profits plunge
BP is to cut 5,000 jobs, including 1,500 in the UK, after seeing profits plunge by 22%. The oil giant recorded profits of £8.76bn for 2007, blaming “disappointing” performances in certain areas compared to rivals, and “notably US refining”.Announcing the results yesterday, BP chief executive Tony Hayward said: “The steps ...