All Forecourt Trader articles in June 2013
View all stories from this issue.
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News
Spanish forecourt workers to strike
Strikes by petrol station workers in Spain are being planned for next month, according to English language news website Thinkspain. It reports that negotiations between unions and industry bosses are deadlocked over issues such as the safety of service-station workers – particularly those on night shifts – failure to recognise ...
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Road deaths at record low
The number of people killed in road accidents last year fell to the lowest figure since records began in 1926, according to the Department for Transport (DfT). Deaths decreased to 1,754 in 2012 from 1,901 in 2011 (a fall of 8%), and the number of people seriously injured was down ...
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News
Cigarette smuggling ring smashed
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has smashed a £26m cigarette smuggling operation based in Yorkshire. The plot, which flooded the north of England with more than 150 million cigarettes and two tonnes of low quality tobacco, was masterminded by Doncaster men Daniel Harty and Billy-Jo Wall, who were sentenced to ...
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FTA welcomes road building commitment
The Freight Transport Association has welcomed the government’s announcement that all the major projects in the Highways Agency pipeline for the Strategic Road Network are to be delivered. The FTA’s submission to the Treasury on the Spending Review called for it to ensure that infrastructure was protected, and emphasised the ...
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News
US Supreme Court rejects biofuel challenge
An attempt to block the sale of E15 blended petrol in the US has been quashed by the Supreme Court. The court rejected a challenge by the American Petroleum Institute (API), food producers and restaurants, which contended that the blend could harm cars and motorcycles built before 2001, and push ...
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News
Forecourts vying for international c-store award
Forecourt stores from England, Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic are all vying in a competition to be crowned International Convenience Retailer of the Year 2013. The awards are organised by Insight Research in the UK and NACS (National Association of Convenience Stores) in the US, and the first stage ...
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Costco voted North America’s favourite petrol station
Costco is where North American consumers prefer to fill their fuel tanks, according to a study by US customer intelligence company Market Force Information. Traditional petrol stations lost out to wholesale clubs, with Sam’s Club coming in second among more than 7,600 consumers across the US and Canada. QuikTrip, Wawa ...
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Traffic volumes stable in 2012
Overall traffic volumes in the UK last year were broadly similar to 2011 and 2010, according to new figures released by the Department for Transport (DfT), at 302.6 billion vehicle miles. Traffic volumes for cars and light goods vehicles (LGVs) were broadly similar when compared to 2011, while heavy goods ...
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News
Warning over dangerous forecourt signs
A “significant number” of forecourt price signs in the UK are vulnerable to windy weather because of flawed foundations, and could cause fatal accidents, installation and maintenance company Xmo Strata has warned. Xmo Strata boss Steve Martin said he could put a precise figure on the number of signs affected ...
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News
Nisa wins Martin McColl supply deal
Martin McColl, the convenience store and newsagent operator, has reached an agreement with Nisa to supply its larger convenience stores. Under the new arrangements about 330 out of the total 670 McColls convenience stores will see supply switch from Palmer & Harvey to Nisa over the next six months. All ...
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News
Supermarket price cuts provoke cynicism
A new round of announcements on Twitter by the four main supermarket groups, saying they were cutting their petrol and diesel prices by up to 2 pence per litre (ppl), have received a cynical response from some consumers. Sainsbury was the first to Tweet at 1.34am on Monday, followed by ...
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News
Gilbarco Veeder-Root wins MFG maintenance contract
Motor Fuel Group (MFG) has awarded Gilbarco Veeder-Root a three-year maintenance contract for its network of 58 sites, after an open-tender process. Gilbarco Veeder-Root will provide full service and maintenance of all MFG sites as well as supplying and installing all new tank-gauging and fuel-dispensing equipment. The contract includes round ...
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Cigarettes stolen from Bridgend filling station
Police in Bridgend, South Wales, are investigating a burglary of a Texaco petrol station kiosk which happened at around 3.45am on Sunday 23rd June. Access was gained through the roof of the petrol station shop on Cowbridge Road, Bridgend, and several thousand pounds worth of cigarettes were stolen. Detective constable ...
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News
Londis launches best practice initiative
Londis has launched The Londis Family, a retailer initiative designed to help Londis retailers share best practice and ideas to help grow their businesses. Consisting of three new programmes - Cluster Families, the Londis Mentor Scheme and Londis Voice - the initiative aims to help retailers address the economic challenges ...
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Topaz staff win awards
Staff at Topaz, the Irish service station and convenience retailer, have scooped two of Ireland’s top sales awards. The Dealer Team, and dealer business manager Jonathan Diver, were winners at the Irish Sales Champion awards, which took place recently at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Diver picked up one of ...
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Warning about ’insider theft’ by employees
A study launched this week by retail consultancy Retail Knowledge reveals that ‘insider theft’ or theft by employees, of both stock and cash, is among retailers’ top three areas of concern. The Volumatic Kount Retail Fraud Survey 2013 is the UK’s most detailed report into loss prevention, which looks into ...
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Formula 1 star to work at Shell service station
Customers at Shell’s Towcester service station in Northamptonshire will be receiving a special ‘pit stop’ service on the eve of the British Grand Prix at the nearby Silverstone race track. Ferrari’s Brazilian Formula 1 racing driver Felipe Massa will be popping into the service station on his way to the ...
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News
Trio charged with filling station robbery
Two men and a woman have appeared in court charged with robbing a Gulf petrol station in Clifton, Bedfordshire, last month. Stuart Battams, 41, of Station Road, Tempsford, and Emmanuel Buckland, 39, of the same address, are charged with robbing the Clifton Filling Station in Broad Street at around 4.55pm ...
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Police publicise crime campaign on petrol pumps
Police in Staffordshire are using messages on supermarket petrol pumps to publicise a campaign targeting uninsured drivers. ‘Cars Behind Bars’ is a campaign instigated by Staffordshire Police and Crime Commissioner Matthew Ellis and has resulted in about 200 uninsured vehicles being seized, some to be scrapped, in the five weeks ...
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News
Jet turns yellow and blue into green
Jet is rolling out a new green initiative to complement the re-imaging of its sites, which enables it to recycle the old yellow and blue plastic bins, but only after some teething problems. Previously, when sites were re-imaged the bins were classified as waste and disposed of, but Sharon Morrow, ...