All Latest News articles – Page 218
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News
Eight arrested over £3m fuel fraud
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, ...
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Licence appeal wins costs
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 ...
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Gunman robs Bracknell forecourt
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 ...
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Positive vibes at Shell’s dealer conference as investment strengthens brand
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 ...
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Tanker driver not guilty over Tesco contamination
A man has been found not guilty of contaminating fuel which caused dozens of breakdowns for customers of a Tesco service station in Dorset. Prosecutors at Basildon Crown Court claimed a tanker driver, Jeffrey Wheeler, removed diesel from a tanker and replaced it with non-road fuel diesel in Essex at ...
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NewsSupermarkets’ share of fuel market falls
Growth in the supermarkets’ share of the UK fuel market stalled in 2015 for the first time in more than 15 years, even though they added 40 new sites last year. The latest data from Experian Catalist shows their market share in 2015 was 43.8%, fractionally down on the 43.9% ...
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£20m funding for driverless car research
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 ...
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Welcome Break adopts National Living Wage
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 ...
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Certas Energy company owned sites join BOSS
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 ...
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NewsFuel price plunge bottoming out
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 ...
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Government presses on with Sunday Trading change
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 ...
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Topaz Energy takeover completed
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, ...
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News
Service station provides village post office
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 ...
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News
£6.5m paid for a pair of forecourts
More than £6.5m has been paid for the freehold of two forecourts. Harmsworth Pooled Property Unit Trust, advised by Helix Property Advisors, has acquired the freehold investment of the petrol filling stations and convenience stores, in Hemel Hempstead and Roehampton, London SW15, from companies advised by Avignon Capital Limited and ...
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MRH acquired by US private equity firm
MRH, the biggest independent service station owner and operator in the UK, has been bought by a US private equity firm Lone Star. The deal closed on January 26 for an undisclosed sum having received approval from the European Commission under EU Merger Regulations. The accompanying statement said: "The companies’ ...
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Retail margins being squeezed as price of diesel is pushed down by supermarkets
Retail margins on petrol have fallen, according to the AA, and prices have continued to fall. In its latest AA Fuel Price Report, it says: "AA research finds that during the periods of early 2014, early 2015 and late 2015, subtracting the cost of wholesale, ethanol and tax from the ...
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BP renews its membership with BOSS
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 ...
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in brief
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 ...
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Funding to drive charging growth
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, ...
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chris Hunt
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 ...