Jempsons Service Station in Rye, Sussex, which earlier this month won the Best Forecourt Team accolade at the Forecourt Trader of the Year Awards, has now become the first site in the UK to be awarded a new Gold Standard site safety sticker.

The site was awarded the Gold Standard after an exemplary health and safety audit at the end of August, where inspectors scored it 100%.

The new scheme, masterminded by Suresite Group, awards petrol stations achieving a score of at least 80% a blue window sticker, while those scoring 95% and above are given a Gold Standard accreditation. The blue sticker says ‘achieved high standard of forecourt compliance’ while the gold states ‘achieved gold standard of forecourt compliance’. Each sticker is dated and lasts for 12 months from the time of the inspection.

Peasmarsh is the first forecourt in the country to receive a perfect score since the window sticker scheme was rolled out during the summer.

Site manager, Jurga Vainauskiene, said: “Our new window badge is like the forecourt equivalent of a five-star food hygiene rating sticker on a restaurant or takeaway and it gives our customers the confidence that we are a safe site.

“We are proud of the hard work and achievements of our staff team, who will continue to make a visit to our site a safe and enjoyable one.”

Neil Simms, compliance manager at Suresite Group, said: "Our new window sticker scheme rewards forecourts that achieve good scores on their compliance audits. This demonstrates the operators’ commitment to ensuring the safety of staff, contractors and customers that visit that site.

“With their blue or gold badge on display, all visitors to the site will know that health and safety is a top consideration, which should give them greater confidence in the operator’s diligence and attitude when it comes to health and safety.

“Peasmarsh petrol station is a very worthy recipient of the first-ever gold sticker.”

Window badges are awarded at the assessors’ discretion and sites are required to demonstrate they are committed to continual improvement.