All Latest News articles – Page 202

  • News

    Positive vibes at Shell’s dealer conference as investment strengthens brand

    2016-02-05T00:00:00Z

    Retailers are signing up to Shell in the UK because of the growing strength of the brand, which follows the company’s aspiration to be the number one global fuel retailer, according to David Moss, Shell UK’s general manager, retail. Addressing a large audience of dealers at the company’s annual conference ...

  • News

    Gunman robs Bracknell forecourt

    2016-02-05T00:00:00Z

    Thames Valley Police is appealing for witnesses following the robbery of a petrol station in Bracknell. Shortly after 1.30am on February 3 a man entered the Esso garage, in Downshire Way, Priestwood. He removed what was appeared to be a firearm from his pocket, before demanding cash from a member ...

  • News

    Licence appeal wins costs

    2016-02-05T00:00:00Z

    A forecourt retailer has won an extension to his alcohol licence and, unusually, a substantial contribution to his costs from the council, after he appealed against its refusal. Solicitors Winckworth Sherwood represented Mohan Samy, owner of Tudor Lodge Service Station, Middlesbrough, in an appeal against a decision by Middlesbrough ...

  • News

    Eight arrested over £3m fuel fraud

    2016-02-05T00:00:00Z

    Men from Merseyside and Manchester have been arrested and 55,000 litres of fuel seized, as part of an investigation by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) into a suspected fuel smuggling fraud worth an estimated £3m in evaded tax. HMRC officers searched one business and four domestic addresses in Knowsley, Liverpool, ...

  • News

    Car sales highest in January for 11 years

    2016-02-05T00:00:00Z

    New car registrations in January in the UK climbed 2.9% compared with the same month in 2015, and were the highest in January for 11 years at 169,678 units. Private and business buyers drove this growth with demand for new cars up by 8.2% to 73,061 and 5.0% to 6,716 ...

  • News

    Service station provides village post office

    2016-02-03T00:00:00Z

    A Yorkshire village post office has transferred to the local service station after the existing postmaster retired. Richard Horseman ran the post office in Strensall village near York for 28 years and when he announced his retirement, retailers Maggie and Pete Wilson stepped forward to save the service. The new ...

  • News

    Topaz Energy takeover completed

    2016-02-03T00:00:00Z

    The takeover of Ireland’s largest convenience and fuel retailer, Topaz Energy Group, by the Canadian convenience store giant Alimentation Couche-Tard has been completed. The companies announced the completion after the EU Commission ratified the deal, which was agreed in early December. Niall Anderton, formerly chief financial officer (CFO) of Topaz, ...

  • News

    Government presses on with Sunday Trading change

    2016-02-03T00:00:00Z

    The government has confirmed that it intends to press ahead with devolution of Sunday trading, despite widespread opposition from MPs on both sides of the House. During the second reading debate of the Enterprise Bill, business minister Sajid Javid announced that plans to deregulate Sunday Trading hours will be added ...

  • Fuel price plunge bottoming out
    News

    Fuel price plunge bottoming out

    2016-02-03T00:00:00Z

    Plummeting fuel prices may have bottomed out, according to the RAC, because oil prices have staged a recovery. Since oil reached a 12-year low of $26 a barrel on Wednesday 20 January the price has rebounded, finishing the month at $33.12, only $3 below where it started the month at ...

  • News

    Certas Energy company owned sites join BOSS

    2016-02-03T00:00:00Z

    Certas Energy has joined the forecourt security association BOSS (British Oil Security Syndicate), by installing the BOSS Payment Watch debt recovery system across its portfolio of 24 company-owned sites in Scotland. The introduction of the BOSS Payment Watch debt recovery service across its sites is expected to result in thousands ...

  • News

    Welcome Break adopts National Living Wage

    2016-02-03T00:00:00Z

    Motorway service operator Welcome Break has announced it will pay the National Living Wage to all its employees across the UK from April 1. The National Living Wage will be the minimum starting rate for all of the company’s 5,000-plus employees across its 27 sites, irrespective of age. Currently 2,095 ...

  • News

    £20m funding for driverless car research

    2016-02-03T00:00:00Z

    Eight new projects developing driverless car technology have been awarded £20m in government funding. The projects are the first to be funded from the government’s £100m Intelligent Mobility Fund. They range from developing autonomous shuttles to carry visually-impaired passengers using advanced sensors and control systems, to new simulation trials for ...

  • News

    Last year saw seismic shift in site ownership

    2016-02-01T00:00:00Z

    The forecourt sector in 2015 saw the conclusion of a seismic shift in ownership that has seen oil companies divesting assets and tying purchasing independents into supply agreements, according to Steve Rodell, managing director of the retail division of property specialist Christie & Co.In the company’s latest business outlook, ’The ...

  • News

    Euro Garages doubles profits

    2016-02-01T00:00:00Z

    Euro Garages turnover was up 26% to £816m for the year to July 31, according to accounts just filed at Companies House, and pre-tax profit more than doubled to £34.8m compared with £15.3m the previous year. Early in the year covered by the accounts, Euro Garages completed the acquisition of ...

  • News

    Store doubled in size at Spar site

    2016-02-01T00:00:00Z

    A £300,000 expansion project at a Spar forecourt store near Bristol Airport has been completed following a co-investment scheme between owner Justin Taylor and Appleby Westward, the regional distribution company for Spar stores in the south west. The store, at Littleton Mills, near Winford, has doubled in size."The redevelopment has ...

  • News

    Lidl denies plans for fuel

    2016-02-01T00:00:00Z

    Lidl’s purchase of an Esso site in Balderton, Nottinghamshire does not signal its entry into the UK forecourt market.A spokesperson for the discounter confirmed the intention was to demolish the filling station to make way for a supermarket.Last year Lidl demolished a Co-op Food Store on an adjoining site and ...

  • News

    chris Hunt

    2016-02-01T00:00:00Z

    As I write this column, the sad unravelling of Tata Steel is taking place on our TV screens, newspapers and radio. In the day-to-day advocacy that UKPIA undertakes, we often bump into the trade associations representing the steel, ceramics, glass, cement, chemicals and other energy-intensive UK industries.All of us have ...

  • News

    Funding to drive charging growth

    2016-02-01T00:00:00Z

    Four cities have been awarded significant funds to promote green vehicle technology after successfully bidding for a share of a £40m scheme created to support the take-up of plug-in electric cars across the UK. Transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin announced the winners of the Go Ultra Low City Scheme, including Bristol, ...

  • News

    in brief

    2016-02-01T00:00:00Z

    Inquiry averted MRH has avoided an inquiry into its acquisition of 78 service stations from Esso after the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) accepted undertakings by the company. The CMA said it was concerned about areas of Brighton and Cambridge where MRH had acquired Esso sites and the next nearest ...

  • News

    BP renews its membership with BOSS

    2016-02-01T00:00:00Z

    BP Oil UK has renewed its membership of BOSS and its Payment Watch scheme for all its company-owned retail fuel sites for this year.BP Oil UK Ltd operates more than 320 company-owned sites and has been a member of BOSS and its Payment Watch scheme since it was introduced in ...