All Latest News articles – Page 452

  • News

    Top ideas at ACS conference

    2005-06-01T00:00:00Z

    Delegates who attended this year’s ACS conference left Warwickshire bursting with new ideas and increased confidence about how to work with their customers, staff and suppliers to make their business a cut above the rest, according to chief executive David Rae. Motivational speaker Martin Hayward set the tone by urging ...

  • M&S trial with BP is ‘Simply’ delightful
    News

    M&S trial with BP is ‘Simply’ delightful

    2005-06-01T00:00:00Z

    Marks & Spencer and BP are to trial eight Marks & Spencer Simply Food concepts in BP Connect forecourt sites, starting in autumn 2005.The eight trial stores will provide customers with a selected range of Marks & Spencer’s high-quality fresh food ranges, including ready meals, fresh produce, sandwiches, wine, flowers ...

  • News

    News in brief

    2005-06-01T00:00:00Z

    BP CONNECT won an award for best managed forecourt chain and Jet an award for best dealer group at last month’s Convenience Tracking Programme Awards organised by shopper consultancy HIM.BP has opened its first company-owned, company-run Connect site on a motorway. The multi-million pound developments are on the north and ...

  • News

    Two stores at the double for Budgens

    2005-06-01T00:00:00Z

    Budgens has extended its portfolio of branded forecourt stores with the opening of two new sites – in Barnwood, Gloucester and Bramley, Surrey.The Total forecourt in Barnwood, owned by the Simon Smith Group, has undergone a complete knock-down rebuild development worth £1million.Partner of the group, Susie Hawkins, said they have ...

  • News

    Time for reality check says Jervis

    2005-06-01T00:00:00Z

    Reality checks are the order of the day in forecourt retailing, according to Paul Jervis, managing director of Yorkshire-based Action Stations, and vice chairman of the PRA, who has just sold seven of his nine sites to United Co-operatives.“Oil companies won’t be buying sites or offering terms that will insulate ...

  • Esso pulls out of Northern Ireland
    News

    Esso pulls out of Northern Ireland

    2005-06-01T00:00:00Z

    Esso is to pull out of Northern Ireland following the announcement by Maxol that it is to acquire 13 Esso company-owned forecourts in the region. The purchase is part of Maxol’s all-Ireland development strategy, and it plans a £5m modernisation programme for the sites. The move increases its number of ...

  • News

    Jet top in PRA survey

    2005-06-01T00:00:00Z

    Jet has come top of the PRA’s dealer survey for the third time in a row, while Esso and Shell are considered the worst.Ray Holloway, director of the PRA, said the latest survey of retailers’ views of their relationships with oil companies has revealed that better communication is what the ...

  • News

    Total is praised for underage scheme

    2005-06-01T00:00:00Z

    Total has been praised by Trading Standards for the successful implementation of its underage drinking policy, ‘Challenge 21’. Trading Standards were apparently so impressed by the professionalism displayed at a Total service station in Sunderland, that the team also received an award from the local Mayor.Sarah Sutton, communications manager at ...

  • News

    Shell unveils plans for 100 ‘clusters’

    2005-05-01T00:00:00Z

    Retailers operating Shell’s 570 company-owned sites are facing an uncertain future following the unveiling of plans for a new multi-site contract at roadshows around the country. Shell’s latest strategy is for its company-owned sites to be run in groups of about six, operated by one organisation – be it as ...

  • News

    United Co-op buys Action Stations

    2005-05-01T00:00:00Z

    United Co-operatives, the largest independent co-operative society in the UK – with a £1.9billion turnover – has bought Action Stations, which operates in the Yorkshire, north east and Nottingham areas. It has acquired seven sites – based at Wakefield, Pontefract, Ossett, Barnsley, Huddersfield, Retford and Sunderland – which form part ...

  • News

    Attacker sent to jail

    2005-05-01T00:00:00Z

    A court has heard how a petrol station employee was viciously attacked and repeatedly kicked as he lay on the forecourt.The victim – who had earlier been taunted with calls of ‘Paki’ from his two attackers – has been so traumatised by the incident that he has given up his ...

  • Jewers returns to boost Gulf brand
    News

    Jewers returns to boost Gulf brand

    2005-05-01T00:00:00Z

    Keith Jewers has returned to the Gulf brand which he left when Chevron sold its UK interests in the mid-90s. He has been appointed director of Gulf Retail, which has signed 150 dealers in the three years since the brand returned to the UK. In the intervening years Jewers ...

  • News

    Morrisons will sell off BP/Safeway sites

    2005-05-01T00:00:00Z

    Morrisons is planning to sell off its share of the 61 BP Safeway Partnership sites following the disbandment of the eight-year-old joint venture, announced last month. BP will continue to supply fuel to Morrisons’ 30 sites for the time being, but Bob Stott, Morrisons chief executive, said: “We have received ...

  • News

    news in brief

    2005-05-01T00:00:00Z

    ROADCHEF is rolling out a new format for its forecourt shops, following a six-month consultation with retail consultancy Breathing Space. Analysis of sales at trial sites – Watford Gap and Clacket Lane – have shown that while fuel volume is remaining static, basket spend is up by 5%. Mike Hobbs, ...

  • News

    Total on the defence

    2005-05-01T00:00:00Z

    Total has issued a statement regarding our latest Shop Doctor report in which its site in Eastleigh, Hampshire gets a further hammering.“Total took Forecourt Trader’s article last year very seriously and as a result have made a number of improvements The shop area is the responsibility of Co-op, and we ...

  • News

    Premium fuel range rolled out by Total

    2005-05-01T00:00:00Z

    Total has launched a premium diesel and unleaded fuel which it claims offers 30 more miles per tankful, cares for the car engine and creates less pollution.Total Excellium will be premium priced in line with Shell Optimax, BP Ultimate and Esso Energy Supreme, and Excellium Unleaded will replace Super Unleaded ...

  • News

    Blue Book published

    2005-04-01T00:00:00Z

    The new edition of the ‘Blue Book’ – for the design, construction, modification, maintenance and decommissioning of filling stations, is now available. Produced jointly by the Association for Petroleum and Explosives Administration and the Service Station Panel of the Energy Institute, it costs £120 and can be ordered by calling ...

  • News

    News in brief

    2005-04-01T00:00:00Z

    THE FORUM OF PRIVATE BUSINESS is warning small companies that they should query their new business rates bill if they believe it is too high. More than 1.5 million business rate bills are dropping into firms’ letter boxes over the next few days as a result of new rateable values, ...

  • News

    PRA welcome for the ‘velvet’ Budget

    2005-04-01T00:00:00Z

    Fuel prices are likely to remain volatile during the spring, so the Chancellor Gordon Brown’s decision to freeze fuel duty levels until September is a wise one – especially with a general election on the horizon – according to Ray Holloway, director of the Petrol Retailer’s Association, commenting on last ...

  • News

    Star’s car used in raid

    2005-04-01T00:00:00Z

    A football star’s car was stolen and used in at least two late-night forecourt raids in the Glasgow area before being dumped.The Audi, owned by Celtic goalkeeper Magnus Hedman, was caught on security camera footage at Bothwell Services on the southbound M74 and the nearby Hamilton Services beside the northbound ...