The £2m government contract to run the Fuel Finder price-reporting scheme could be stripped from VE3 Global as issues with the system persist months after it was introduced.
The problems have been thrown into sharp focus as spiking fuel prices brought about by the Iranian conflict have driven record numbers of consumers to price-monitoring apps, which use data aggregated by VE3.
Forecourt operators have reported glitches and bugs with Fuel Finder software since registration opened, two weeks behind schedule, in January.
Problems include invalid activation codes being sent to retailers, operators being unable to register sites with the system, and drivers being told petrol is available for as little as 1.3p a litre.
Back in May 2025 the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) awarded the IT contract to build the Fuel Finder system to VE3 Global, a firm with no prior experience in the sector.
Now, The Times reports that “ministers are threatening to strip a contract worth nearly £2 million from VE3 Global”, with the paper adding “the move has been planned and held in reserve as contingency”. One retailer told the publication: “There is so much that is amateurish about the technology and the back end,” adding: “When you dig into it you find out what an absolute nightmare it is. There are so many basic errors.”
Those comments echo ones made by independent retailer Johnny Srikrishna, who told Forecourt Trader last month: “It’s not even polished enough to be in beta testing. It shouldn’t have left the testing environment – in fact, we are the testing environment.”
VE3 has in the past received scrutiny both from Forecourt Trader and Private Eye, with the latter finding that awards the company claimed on a page of its website to have won “appear not to exist or simply weren’t won by the company”. At time of writing, that page appears to have been replaced with one that asserts “25+ awards”, with no further elaboration.
Last week a source familiar with the matter told Forecourt Trader that a major operator was facing repeated issues with Fuel Finder not displaying prices that had been submitted to the system, with concerns growing that it cannot cope with the high volumes of price changes retailers are having to make due to current price volatility.
DESNZ, which has oversight of Fuel Finder, previously admitted to “teething issues” with Fuel Finder, yet civil servants apparently have no way of interrogating the system themselves, telling Forecourt Trader earlier this month that VE3 Global “has assured us the functionality is working as expected”, and that we should “speak to VE3 directly” about issues with the system we had put to the department.
When approaced for comment over The Times’ most recent report, a spokesperson for VE3 Global told Forecourt Trader: “Many of the claims made about the Fuel Finder platform are inaccurate or misrepresent the current state of the service.”
The company added:
“In just six weeks since launch, more than 90% of UK forecourts have registered with the platform, with 83% actively reporting live pricing data. This represents rapid adoption at national scale and reflects strong engagement across the sector.
“The core technology is working as intended and continues to improve at pace through an active, collaborative partnership with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. As with any new digital service of this scale, there is a structured beta phase designed to iterate and enhance functionality in real-world conditions.
“VE3 has delivered the private beta phase in line with agreed milestones and has been paid accordingly. We remain fully aligned with DESNZ on delivery and are working jointly to accelerate onboarding, improve data completeness and support integration into consumer-facing applications.
“We are also working closely with technology developers, platforms and app providers to ensure Fuel Finder data is integrated into the services the public uses every day. A dedicated developer engagement programme is already underway to support this, with further activity planned to accelerate adoption and maximise public access.
“Fuel Finder is already providing unprecedented transparency in fuel pricing across the UK, and progress to date demonstrates that the platform is moving in the right direction at speed.”
