Independent forecourt operator Ben Lawrence has highlighted the plight of fuel retailers being hammered by drive-offs and no means of payment incidents, both of which are up significantly alongside fuel prices.
Lawrence, whose family firm operates three forecourts, told The Telegraph “things have never been worse” where fuel theft is concerned, with people from all manner of backgrounds stealing fuel in a “brazen” manner. “Someone in a brand-new BMW is just as likely to try their luck as someone in a beaten-up old car,” he says.
Lawrence recalls in the paper how one fuel thief’s behaviour is illustrative of today’s attitudes: “He stood there, locked eyes with me and waved. Then he sped away in his red Vauxhall Corsa without paying. It was a slap in the face.”
The retailer also warns that consumers increasingly “use petrol stations on a sort of payday loan basis”, drawing fuel with the premeditative intention of claiming to be unable to pay.
Whilst detailing how thousands of forecourts in the UK are run by family outfits like his rather than the oil majors people often perceive operate them, Lawrence criticises the government, saying its “rhetoric that fuel companies are profiteering from the crisis caused by events in the Middle East does not help”, with such messaging contributing to a mindset that sees people believe forecourts “deserve to be stolen from”.
Speaking separately to Forecourt Trader, Lawrence added that “the police have a difficult job and I don’t blame them – but the government using words like ‘rip-off retailers’ hasn’t helped – if politicians say that, people believe them.”
