All Forecourt Trader articles in July 2013 – Page 4
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News
TV programme attacked as "unfair and unjustified"
The Independent Garage Association (IGA) has attacked the latest episode of the TV programme Your Money, Their Tricks. The programme saw the motor trade come under the spotlight and suggested that one of Britain’s biggest fast fit chains, Kwik-Fit, makes drivers pay for unnecessary work. “While there are some areas ...
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News
Massive new competitor to enter UK market
A massive new competitor is set to enter the UK market 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, and in the document states that it would be “one ...
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Criminal gangs defrauding petrol stations
Criminal gangs are systematically defrauding petrol stations out of thousands of pounds worth of fuel using bogus fuel cards, according to national press reports. They report a warning by the City of London Police’s National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) that criminal gangs are taking advantage of the weaker security on ...
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PRA warns fuel prices are soaring up
Prices for petrol could surge up to 140 pence per litre (ppl), with diesel rising to 144ppl, due to currency fluctuations pushing up wholesale fuel prices, the PRA has warned. PRA chairman Brian Madderson said: “The unexpected crash in the exchange rate for the Pound against the US Dollar, from ...
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Shelving of plain tobacco packaging welcomed
The PRA has welcomed the Government’s decision to shelve proposals for standardised (plain) packaging for tobacco products. PRA chairman Brian Madderson said: “Our members have been deeply concerned about the unintended consequences of this proposal, and we therefore welcome the Government’s decision to support business and focus its efforts on ...
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News
Unit pricing for alcohol shelved
The government has shelved plans to introduce a minimum price for a unit of alcohol in England and Wales, but it will ban below cost selling next year. Home Office minister Jeremy Browne said the unit pricing policy would remain “under consideration” but said there were fears the change would ...
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Warning for cities hit hardest by austerity
Many small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) in the UK’s most vulnerable cities could face severe challenges as the effects of the depressed economy and of spending cuts are felt. This is the warning in a report, Small Business Outlook 2013, which has been published by Centre for Cities and ...
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News
Topaz partners AXA in loyalty scheme
Topaz, the largest service station and convenience retailer in the Irish Republic, is partnering AXA to provide a new fuel card, as part of the insurance company’s AXA Plus customer loyalty scheme. The fuel card guarantees 2 cents off per litre on petrol and diesel at any of the 320 ...
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Leeds site overcomes opposition to drinks licence
The owner of a petrol station in Leeds has been granted a licence to sell alcohol, despite opposition from some councillors concerned that it will attract troublemakers. Leeds City Council’s licensing sub committee approved the application for Kai Seelig to be allowed to sell alcohol at the Shell Garage on ...
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Two raids on East Midlands petrol stations
Thieves have struck in two incidents at petrol stations in the East Midlands. In the first raid two masked men stole cash and cigarettes from the Jet Service Station in Leicester Road, Shepshed, at about 10.30pm on July 11. Detective Constable Joanna Brown said officers wanted to trace a white ...
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Italian forecourts shut in three-day protest
Petrol station owners in Italy have shut their sites down for three days until Friday in protest at recent price hikes by oil companies, claiming they are putting their businesses and thousands of jobs at risk. The price of petrol in Italy is the second highest in Europe after Holland ...
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News
Londis launches rounded price range
Londis is launching new own brand value bays to offer its retailers a collection of products at attractive rounded price points. The new bays will include 18 products from the symbol group’s mid-tier and entry level own brand ranges and will be priced at £1, £1.50 and £2. Londis says ...
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PPI problems raised with MPs
Problems resulting from the PPI (payment protection insurance) mis-selling scandal have been raised with an influential group of MPs by the National Franchised Dealers Association (NFDA). Officials from the NFDA have met with Jonathan Evans MP, chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Insurance and Financial Services, to provide ...
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AA report supports PRA warning on price hike
The PRA’s warning last week that petrol prices were set to surge up to 140 pence per litre (ppl), with diesel going up by the same amount, has been supported by the latest AA Fuel Price Report. It said a $100-a-tonne increase in the cost of wholesale petrol across north-west Europe, combined with a weaker pound, heralds a potential 5p increase in pump petrol costs. And it added that with average UK petrol prices up from 134.61p a litre in mid June to 135.78p now, more than a penny has already fed through to the pump. However, it claimed the average hid a wide range of pricing, with some petrol stations having already passed on the full increase in costs, while two supermarkets were cheaper on average than a month ago. Diesel prices, which averaged 139.16p a month ago, have also risen more than a penny to 140.24p, but wholesale prices in north-west Europe have risen less than petrol, with an increase of around $40 in the past fortnight. The AA said that the fall in the value of sterling versus the dollar had added about 1.5ppl to the wholesale cost of petrol, but it said much of the rest of the increase was due to the action of oil and fuel market speculators. AA president Edmund King said: “Last week’s OPEC oil market report painted a picture of improved summer petrol consumption in the US and Europe, but stocks remain significantly larger than last year – 9.3% up in north-west Europe. The report refers to ‘slack demand in Europe and a slow start to the US summer driving. “OPEC summarises the gasoline market in the Atlantic Basin as ‘losing ground due to limited demand on the Atlantic Coast which has not so far provided the strong boost that was seasonally expected’. And therein lies the rub – market speculation versus consumer reality. “US regulator data shows that betting on rising oil prices is at its highest since May 2011 – and we all know how that ended, oil crashing from $125 to $108 a barrel in June. Meantime, UK petrol consumption fell more than 5% as cash-strapped drivers cut back and RPI inflation was running above 5%. “After the price of petrol stabilised at around 134.6p a litre through much of this June, and weeks were filled with beautiful weather and sporting excellence, it was perhaps inevitable that oil and fuel market speculators would cast a black cloud over what was promising to be a glorious summer.” To see last week’s PRA price warning click here
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Man arrested after forecourt evacuation
A petrol station in the West Midlands was evacuated yesterday after police were called to reports of a man acting suspiciously. The Pedmore Road, which the BP petrol station in Lye is situated on, was shut for just under an hour from around 5.30pm. West Midlands Police spokesman Billy Corrigan ...
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Police release CCTV after petrol station arson attack
Police in Hereford yesterday released a CCTV image of a man they would like to speak to about an arson attack at a petrol station. A storage shed at the side of the Apple Green on Ross Road was set alight shortly after 3am on Sunday, 7 July. The shed ...
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Five arrested in cigarette smuggling raid
Five men have been arrested during a raid by officers from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) investigating a suspected £6m cigarette smuggling fraud across the Peterborough and Spalding areas. Around 100 HMRC investigators, assisted by Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire police and Peterborough Trading Standards, carried out over 30 searches of residential ...
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Firefighters save Asda site from blaze
A blaze close to a petrol filling station in West Yorkshire could have caused an explosion, according to firefighers. Crews from Wakefield and Ossett were called to a fire 25m from the Asda petrol station on Asdale Road, Wakefield at about 3pm yesterday afternoon. Two 50ft conifer trees had been ...
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News
Man charged with robbery at petrol station
A 29-year-old man has been charged in connection with a robbery at a petrol station in Kent. Daryl Cook, of Simons Avenue, Chatham, was charged with robbery, being in possession of a bladed article and attempted robbery. Police were called at 9.30pm on July 6 to reports of a robbery ...
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Costco confirms plan to enter UK market
Costco has confirmed it is aiming to enter the UK, which was exclusively revealed by Forecourttrader.co.uk last week. The US giant has applied for planning permission to build a petrol filling station (PFS) at its Liverpool site, and Steve Pappas, managing director of Costco UK, told Forecourttrader.co.uk: “Costco sells petrol ...