All Latest News articles – Page 322
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News
Motorists shopping around more for fuel
Motorists in Britain are collectively spending £516m a month more on fuel compared with a year ago, according to new research from Sainsbury’s Bank car insurance. This equates to, on average, £14.64 more per motorist per month on fuel compared with a year ago. The findings reveal that in a ...
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BP joins banks’ loyalty scheme
BP has joined Natwest and RBS’s new loyalty programme, Cashback Plus, as one of the launch partners. According to RBS and Natwest, Cashback Plus is the UK’s only debit-card linked loyalty scheme, and more than 12 million of their customers will be rewarded for shopping on their debit card. Cashback ...
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Rural support plans criticised
Government proposals to extend its fuel discount scheme to more isolated rural areas have been described as “too little too late” by the Rural Shops Alliance (RSA), which represents 7,500 rural retailers. Noting that the number of filling stations in the UK has declined from 37,500 in 1970 to less ...
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Spar and Londis enhance ranges
Two of the biggest symbol groups in the forecourt sector have introduced changes to their ranges. Spar UK is revamping two of its own brand soft drinks ranges with a redesign and new flavours in line with trends in the market. Spar’s flavoured still water range is getting a revamp ...
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MRH joins Payment Watch scheme
MRH Retail, which is number one in Forecourt Trader’s Top 50 Indies, has joined the Payment Watch debt recovery scheme run by the British Oil Security Syndicate (BOSS). MRH’s sites throughout England, Scotland and Wales are all joining the scheme which has helped members recover 80% of their ‘no means ...
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Subway opens 4,000th European store
The Subway brand has reached the milestone of 4,000 stores operating in Europe with the opening of the latest outlet in the Gara de Nord railway station in Bucharest, Romania. The first European Subway store opened in the UK, in Brighton, in 1996. Since then the brand has expanded its ...
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Spar to advertise on TV
Spar UK will be back on shoppers’ TV screens for the first time in four years, as part of a £5m national multi-media campaign, kicking off in early October. Featuring TV and digital advertising, a customer magazine and in-store communication, Spar’s new campaign is intended to celebrate its convenience and ...
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Car auction value and volume up
The average value of used cars sold at auction increased from £4,828 to £4,862 in July and the total volume of sales rose 6% from 83,637 units to 88,697 units, according to the National Association of Motor Auctions (NAMA). NAMA chairman Justin Lane said: “During the first two weeks of ...
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Autogas opens new facility in Grimsby
LPG supplier Autogas has opened its first refuelling facility in Grimsby at the newly rebuilt Shell petrol station on Moody Lane. Autogas invested in excess of £67,000 putting the new autogas LPG refuelling facility in to the site as part of Shell’s full refurbishment of the facility. It means that ...
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Light commercial vehicle sales slip
The latest light commercial vehicle sales figures were down 0.6% in July but are still up 6.5% for the year-to-date. Van sales dipped 2.6% last month but remained 9.3% ahead year-to-date. “It is positive to see that the commercial vehicle market remained stable during July, with a healthy increase in ...
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Man threatens customer with pool cue
A man has been given a suspended prison sentence after threatening a customer on a forecourt with a pool cue and demanding he hand over the keys to his vehicle. Scott Wilson raised the pool cue above his head and ordered Leighton Stephenson to hand over his keys at the ...
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Dealer hid drugs on forecourt shelves
A drug dealer hid a package of drugs on the shelves of a petrol station shop in a bid to avoid being caught in possession of them, a court has been told. Craig Steele, who was described as one of Plymouth’s main cannabis dealers, was arrested by police while at ...
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Warning over new EU tobacco plans
Retailers have been urged to take action over proposed new restrictions on the sales of tobacco. The EU is considering a number of proposals including the ban of pack sizes below 20 for cigarettes, a ban on packs below 40 grams for roll your own (RYO) tobacco products, a ban ...
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Former Costcutter boss advises KPMG
KPMG has hired Nick Ivel, the former group chief executive of Costcutter Supermarkets, as a consultant to advise the firm’s clients on their convenience store strategy. During Ivel’s 14-year tenure at Costcutter the annual turnover of the group increased from £198m to £650m. David McCorquodale, head of retail at KPMG ...
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Three suspected cigarette smugglers arrested
Three men have been arrested in Peterborough on suspicion of smuggling an estimated 8.3 million cigarettes into the UK and evading about £1.5m in excise duty. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) criminal investigators, assisted by Cambridgeshire Police, arrested the men last Friday morning, 2 August, as the tobacco was being ...
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Global ATM provider buys Cardpoint
Global ATM company Cardtronics has acquired Cardpoint, which trades as ATM services provider Cashzone in the UK. In conjunction with the deal, Cardtronics is introducing a new corporate identity for its European operations, Cardtronics Europe, which will include Cashzone and Bank Machine, Cardtronics’ existing UK subsidiary. Cardtronics chief executive officer ...
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FPB welcomes Bank of England guidance
The Forum of Private Business has welcomed Bank of England governor Mark Carney’s comments on the merits of forward guidance alongside the bank’s quarterly economic forecasts today. Chief executive Phil Orford said: “Today’s revised growth forecast by the Bank of England will act as a further boost to business confidence ...
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Police helicopter tracks drive-off car
A helicopter was involved in a police chase in Telford, Shropshire, linked to a crackdown on petrol thefts in the town. Sniffer dogs were also dispatched after two men drove from a forecourt with cans of stolen fuel. The police pursuit began after the men drove away from Sainsbury’s petrol ...
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New car sales growing strongly
New car sales figures have shown strong growth with month-on-month sales up 12.7% compared with July last year. Private registrations increased by 11.9%. Sue Robinson, director of the National Franchised Dealers Association (NFDA), commented: “It is extremely encouraging that new car sales continued to improve in July with year-to-date growth now at 10.3%.” “Consumer confidence continues to grow with the British Retail Consortium reporting an increase in high street retail sales of 2.2% during July. “Dealers are reporting increased footfall in showrooms as consumers are drawn in by new products and services offered by dealers and manufacturers. With such strong manufacturer and finance offers currently available dealers are reporting that it is proving much easier to close a sale. However competitive pricing and strong incentives remain important if the sales trend is to continue throughout 2013.”
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GB Oils rolls out new card payment terminals
GB Oils is aiming to strengthen its dealer support package with the roll-out of the HTEC GemPAY card payment terminal. It says it will enable dealers to process transactions up to 10 times faster while providing increased end-user security in line with the latest PCI DSS compliance legislation. GB Oils ...